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FOUNDED  BY  JOHN  D.  ROCKEFELLER 


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SOURCES  AND  ANALOGUES  OF  "THE 
FLOWER  AND  THE  LEAF" 


A  DISSERTATION 

SUBMITTED  TO  THE  FACULTIES  OF  THE  GRADUATE  SCHOOLS  OF  ARTS, 

LITERATURE,  AND  SCIENCE  IN  CANDIDACY  FOR  THE 

DEGREE  OF  DOCTOR  OF  PHILOSOPHY 

(DEPARTMENT  OF  ENGLISH) 


BY 

GEORGE  L.  MARSH 


Reprinted  from 

Modern  Philology,  Vol.  IV,  Nos.  i  and  2 

Chicago  1906 


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Zbc  mniversttg  of  Cbtcaao 

FOUNDED  BY  JOHN  D.  ROCKEFELLER 


SOURCES  AND  ANALOGUES  OF  "THE 
FLOWER  AND  THE  LEAF" 


A  DISSERTATION 

SUBMITTED  TO  THE  FACULTIES  OF  THE  GRADUATE  SCHOOLS  OF  ARTS, 

LITERATURE,  AND  SCIENCE  IN  CANDIDACY  FOR  THE 

DEGREE  OF  DOCTOR  OF  PHILOSOPHY 

(DEPARTMENT  OF  ENGLISH) 


BY 

GEORGE  L.  MARSH 


of  the   "^ 
(  UNIVERSITY  ) 

V  OF  J 


Reprinted  from 

Modern  Philology,  Vol.  IV,  Nos.  i  and  2 

Chicago  1906 


PRINTED  AT    THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CHICAGO    PRESS 


f    UNfVERS 


K 


SOURCES  AND  ANALOGUES  OF  "THE  FLOWER  AND 
THE   LEAF."     PART  I 

INTRODUCTION 

Of  the  numerous  poems  erroneously  attributed  to  Chaucer, 
probably  the  best-known,  and  certainly  one  of  the  best,  is  The 
Flower  and  the  Leaf.1  It  first  appeared  in  Speght's  folio  of 
1598,  and  was  regularly  reprinted  with  Chaucer's  Works  until 
1878.  During  this  period,  owing  partly,  no  doubt,  to  the  mod- 
ernization by  Dryden,2  the  poem  was  usually  regarded  as  one  of 
Chaucer's  most  characteristic  and  charming  pieces.  Keats  wrote 
a  sonnet  about  it;  Scott,  Campbell,  Irving,  Mrs.  Browning,  were 
all  fond  of  it ;  the  editors  of  selections  from  Chaucer  reprinted  it ; 
Taine  quoted  from  it  to  illustrate  Chaucer's  most  notable  merits.3 
Now,  however,  the  question  of  Chaucerian  authorship  must  be 
regarded  as  settled  adversely,4  for  reasons  which  need  not  be 
repeated  here.     In  this  investigation  it  is  taken  for  granted  that 

iSkeat,  Chaucerian  and  Other  Pieces  (Clarendon  Press,  1897),  pp.  361-79.  References 
will  be  to  this  edition. 

2  Fables,  1700. 

3  It  may  be  of  interest  to  indicate  the  vogue  of  the  poem  by  the  following  specific  ref- 
erences: Warton,  History  of  English  Poetry  (1774-81) ;  see  Index  in  Hazlitt  ed.  (1871).  God- 
win, Life  of  Chaucer  (2d  ed.,  1804),  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  249  ff.  Todd,  Illustrations  of  Gower  and 
Chaucer  (1810),  pp.  275  ff.  Scott,  Rokeby  (1813),  Canto  VI,  xxvi.  Keats,  Sonnet  Written  on 
a  Blank  Space  at  the  End  of  Chaucer's  Tale  of  " The  Floure  and  the  Lefe"  (1817).  T. 
Campbell,  Specimens  of  the  British  Poets  (1819),  Vol.  I,  pp.  70  ff . ;  Vol.  II,  p.  17.  Irving, 
Sketch  Book  (1819),  "Rural  Life  in  England."  S.  W.  Singer,  "Life  of  Chaucer,"  in  The 
British  Poets  (Chiswick,  1822),  Vol.  I,  pp.  xvi,  xvii,  xxi.  Hazlitt,  Select  Poets  of  Great  Brit- 
ain (1825),  p.  ix;  Farewell  to  Essay  Writing  (1828).  Clarke,  The  Riches  of  Chaucer  (2d  ed., 
1835),  Vol.  I,  pp.  52  ff.  E.  B.  Browning,  The  Book  of  the  Poets  (1842).  H.  Reed,  Lectures  on 
English  Literature  (1855),  p.  136.  Sandras,  Etude  sur  Chaucer  (1859),  pp.  95  ff.  G.  P.  Marsh, 
Origin  and  History  of  the  English  Language  (1862),  p.  414.  Taine,  History  of  English  Litera- 
ture (1864-65),  Book  I,  chap,  iii,  3.  Minto,  Characteristics  of  the  English  Poets  (1874),  p.  15. 
Ward,  Chaucer,  in  "English  Men  of  Letters"  series  (1879),  chaps,  i,  iii.  Engel,  Geschichte 
der  englischen  Litteratur  (Leipzig,  1883),  p.  74.  Bierbaum,  History  of  the  English  Language 
and  Literature  (1895),  p.  34.  Filon,  Histoire  de  la  literature  anglaise  (2d  ed.,  1896),  p.  54. 
Palgrave,  Landscape  in  Poetry  (1897),  p.  122.  Gosse,  Modern  English  Literature  (1898),  p.  14. 
Saintsbury,  Short  History  of  English  Literature  (1898),  pp.  119,  120.  There  are  also  nine- 
teenth century  modernizations  by  Lord  Thurlow  and  Powell,  and  a  French  translation  by 
Chatelain. 

*  By  ten  Brink,  Chaucer  Studien  (1870),  pp.  156  ff. ;  Skeat,  Introduction  to  Bell's  Chaucer 
(1878),  and  Chaucerian  and  Other  Pieces,  pp.  lxii  ff. ;  Lounsbury,  Studies  in  Chaucer  (1892), 
Vol.  I,  pp.  489  ff .    As  is  well  known,  Tyrwhitt  first  expressed  doubt  of  Chaucer's  authorship 
(1775),  but  his  suggestion  was  hardly  taken  seriously  for  nearly  a  century. 
121]  1  [Modern  Philology,  July,  1906 


161429 


2  George  L.  Marsh 

the  author  was  an  imitator  of  Chaucer,  writing  during  the  first 
half -century  or  so  after  his  master's  death.1 

The  plan  of  treatment  adopted  for  study  of  the  sources  and 
analogues  of  the  poem  is  as  follows: 

1.  The  central  allegory  of  the  Orders  of  the  Flower  and  the  Leaf. 

2.  The  accessories  of  the  central  allegory:  the  significance  of 
the  white  and  green  costumes,  and  the  chaplets  of  leaves  and 
flowers;  the  choice  of  the  nightingale  and  the  goldfinch  as  singers 
for  the  Leaf  and  the  Flower  respectively;  the  cult  of  the  daisy, 
and  so  forth. 

3.  The  general  setting  and  machinery  of  the  poem ;  its  relations 
to  other  vision  poems  with  the  springtime  setting. 

4.  Conclusion  as  to  the  most  influential  sources. 

SYNOPSIS    OF    THE    POEM 

The  following  summary  of  the  action  of  F.  L.2  will  be  useful: 

1 1  say  Tit's  because,  although  the  poem  purports  to  be  by  a  woman,  there  i6  no  adequate 
reason  for  assuming  that  it  is  by  a  woman,  I  hope  to  show  in  a  later  article  that  Professor 
Skeat's  theory  of  common  authorship  of  The  Flower  and  the  Leaf  and  The  Assembly  of 
Ladies  is  untenable,  and  that  various  striking  resemblances  of  the  former  to  the  work  of 
Lydgate  suggest  that  he  may  have  been  the  author. 

2 In  the  course  of  this  article  abbreviations  will  be  used  as  follows: 
A.  G.  —  Assembly  of  Gods,  attributed  to  Lydgate,  E.  E.  T.  S. 
A.  L.  =  Assembly  of  Ladies,  pseudo-Chaucerian  poem. 

A.  Y.  L.  I.  =  As  You  Like  It. 

B.  D.  =  Chaucer's  Book  of  the  Duchess, 

B.  K.  —  Lydgate's  Complaint  of  the  Black  Knight. 

C.  A.  =  Gower's  Confessio  Amantis. 
C.  B.  =  Lydgate's  Chorl  and  the  Bird. 

C.  L.  =  The  Court  of  Love,  pseudo-Chaucerian  poem. 

C.  N.=  The  Cuckoo  and  the  Nightingale,  pseudo-Chaucerian  poem. 

C.  O.  =  Debat  du  Coer  et  de  VOeil. 

C.  T.  =  Chaucer's  Canterbury  Tales. 

Chansons—  Chansons  du  XVme  siecle,  Societe  des  Anciens  Textes  Francais. 

E.  E.  T.  S.  =  Early  English  Text  Society. 

F.  L,  =  The  Flower  and  the  Leaf. 
Fablel  =  Fablel  dou  Dieu  d' Amours. 

L.  G.  W.  —  Chaucer's  Legend  of  Good  Women. 

M.  M.  =  Measure  for  Measure. 

M.  P.  =  Lydgate's  Minor  Poems,  ed.  Halliwell,  Percy  Society. 

Night.  =  Lydgate's  Two  Nightingale  Poems,  E.  E.  T.  S. 

P.  F.  —  Chaucer's  Parlement  of  Foules. 

R.  R.  =  Roman  de  la  Rose. 

R.  S.  =  Lydgate's  Reson  and  Sensuallyte,  E.  E.  T.  S. 

5.  T.  S.  =  Scottish  Text  Society. 

T.  C.  =  Chaucer's  Troilus  and  Criseyde. 
T.  G.  =  Lydgate's  Temple  of  Glas,  E.  E.  T.  S. 
Thebes  =  Lydgate's  Story  of  Thebes. 
Venus  =  De  Venus  la  Deesse  d'  Amor. 

122 


"The  Flower  and  the  Leaf"  3 

Very  early  on  a  May  morning,  when  the  spring  growth  is  at 
its  height,  the  poet,  represented  as  a  woman  to  whom  sleep  is 
"ful  unmete,"  goes  forth  to  a  pleasant  grove  of  oaks  set  out  at 
regular  intervals.  With  joy  she  hears  the  birds  sing,  and  listens 
especially,  though  at  first  in  vain,  for  the  nightingale.  Soon  she 
finds  a  narrow  path,  overgrown  with  grass  and  weeds,  which  leads 
to  a  pleasant  "herber,"  terraced  with  fresh  grass  and  surrounded 
by  a  hedge  of  sycamore  and  sweet-scented  eglantine.  This  hedge 
is  so  thick  that  anyone  outside  cannot  see  in,  though  one  inside 
can  see  out.  Beside  the  arbor  is  a  beautiful  medlar  tree,  in  which 
a  goldfinch  leaps  from  bough  to  bough,  eating  buds  and  blossoms 
and  singing  merrily.  Opposite  this  is  a  laurel  tree,  which  gives 
out  healing  odors  like  the  eglantine,  and  within  whose  branches  a 
nightingale  sings  even  more  ravishingly  than  the  goldfinch.  The 
poet  is  delighted  with  the  spot,  which  seems  like  an  earthly  para- 
dise, and  sits  down  on  the  grass  to  listen  to  the  birds. 

Soon  she  hears  voices  like  those  of  angels,  and  in  a  moment  a 
"world  of  ladies"  come  out  of  a  grove  near  by,  singing  sweetly 
and  dancing,  under  the  leadership  of  the  most  beautiful  member 
of  the  company.  All  are  brilliantly  arrayed  in  surcoats  of  white 
velvet  set  with  precious  stones.  They  are  soon  followed  by  a 
"rout"  of  men  at  arms,  also  clad  in  white,  with  decorations  of 
cloth  of  gold.  Both  men  and  women  wear  chaplets  of  leaves — 
laurel,  woodbine,  hawthorn,  agnus  castus.  After  the  knights 
have  jousted  with  one  another,  they  join  the  ladies  in  doing 
obeisance  before  the  laurel  tree.  Then  come  from  an  adjacent 
field  the  adherents  of  the  Flower — knights  and  ladies  hand  in 
hand,  clad  in  green  and  wearing  chaplets  of  flowers.  This  com- 
pany go  dancing  into  a  mead,  where  they  kneel  before  a  tuft  of 
blossoms  while  one  of  their  number  sings  a  "bargaret"  in  praise 
of  the  daisy.  Soon,  however,  the  heat  of  noon  withers  the  flowers 
and  burns  the  ladies  and  their  knights ;  a  wind  blows  down  the 
flowers;  and  hail  and  rain  bedraggle  the  company.  Meanwhile 
those  in  white  beneath  the  laurel  tree  are  unharmed  by  the  ele- 
ments, and,  when  they  perceive  the  plight  of  the  others,  go  to 
their  aid  and  kindly  entertain  them.  Then  the  nightingale  flies 
from  the  laurel  tree  to  the  lady  of  the  Leaf,  Diana,  and  the  gold- 

123 


4  George  L.  Marsh 

finch  from  the  medlar  tree  to  Flora,  the  queen  of  the  Flower, 
both  birds  singing  their  loudest. 

The  two  companies  ride  away  together,  and  the  poet,  coming 
forth  from  her  concealment,  asks  a  lady  in  white  for  an  explana- 
tion of  what  she  has  seen.  The  adherents  of  the  Leaf,  she  is  told, 
are  people  who  have  been  chaste,  brave,  and  steadfast  in  love;  the 
adherents  of  the  Flower  are  people  who  have  loved  idleness,  and 
cared  for  nothing  but  hunting  and  hawking  and  playing  in  meads. 
Then,  after  explaining  why  the  Leaf  is  to  be  preferred  to  the 
Flower,  the  lady  of  the  Leaf  asks  the  poet  to  which  she  will  do 
service.  The  poet  chooses  the  Leaf,  and  the  lady  hastens  after 
her  company. 

CHAPTER  I.  THE  CENTRAL  ALLEGORY:  THE  ORDERS  OF 
THE  FLOWER  AND  THE  LEAF 

Obviously  the  kernel  of  the  poem  is  the  allegory  of  the  Flower 
and  the  Leaf — the  strife  between  two  contrasted  orders  of  knights 
and  ladies,  with  one  of  which  the  author  becomes  allied.  Distinct 
mention  of  these  orders  is  made  by  three  persons  besides  our 
unknown  poet — by  Chaucer,  Deschamps,  and  Charles  d' Orleans. 

chaucer's  mention  of  the  orders 
It  has  long  been  well  known  that  in  the  Prologue  to  his 
Legend  of  Good  Women  Chaucer  refers  to  the  rivalry  of  the 
Orders  of  the  Flower  and  the  Leaf.1  He  has  been  speaking  of 
his  love  for  the  daisy,  and  asks  lovers  to  help  him  in  his  labor  of 
adequately  praising  it — 

Whether  ye  ben  with  the  leef  or  with  the  flour. 

He  says  modestly  that  he  can  only  be  a  gleaner  among  poets, 
taking  what  others  have  left;  but  he  hopes  to  be  forgiven  for  his 
lack  of  originality, 

Sin  that  ye  see  I  do  hit  in  the  honour 
Of  love,  and  eek  in  service  of  the  flour, 
Whom  that  I  serve  as  I  have  wit  or  might. 

i  Text  A,  11.  70-80;  B,  11.  72, 189-96.  First  noted  in  Urry's  edition  of  1721,  and  taken  as  a 
direct  allusion  to  F.  £.,  which  Chaucer  was  assumed  to  have  previously  composed.  See 
articles  by  Professor  Kittredge,  in  Modern  Philology,  Vol.  I,  pp.  Iff.;  and  Professor  J.  L. 
Lowes,  Publications  of  the  Modern  Language  Association  of  America,  Vol.  XIX,  pp.  593  ff . 

124 


"The  Flower  and  the  Leaf"  5 

The  lines  in  text  A  corresponding  to  these  are: 

Sith  hit  is  seid  in  forthering  and  honour 
Of  hem  that  either  serven  leef  or  flour; 

and  are  immediately  followed  by  an  explanation  which  in  text  B 

does  not  come  till  1.  188.     In  the  latter  text  the  poet  proceeds 

with  praise  of  the  "flour"  referred  to  in  1.  82.     He  tells  how  he 

could 

Dwellen  alwey,  the  joly  month  of  May,    (176) 

with  nothing  to  do 

But  for  to  loke  upon  the  dayesye, 

The  emperice  and  flour  of  floures  alle. 


But  natheless,  ne  wene  nat  that  I  make 
In  preysing  of  the  flour  agayn  the  leef, 
No  more  than  of  the  corn  agayn  the  sheef : 
For,  as  to  me,  nis  lever  noon  ne  lother; 
I  nam  with-holden  yit  with  never  nother. 
Ne  I  not  who  serveth  leef,  ne  who  the  flour; 
Wei  brouken  they  hir  service  or  labour; 
For  this  thing  is  al  of  another  tonne, 
Of  olde  story,  er  swich  thing  was  begonne. 

The  last  three  lines  in  the  corresponding  passage  in  A  are  also 
worth  quotation,  because  they  are  a  trifle  more  specific,  especially 
in  the  use  of  the  italicized  words: 

That  nis  nothing  the  entent  of  my  labour, 

For  this  werk  is  al  of  another  tunne, 

Of  olde  story,  er  swich  stryf  was  begunne. 

"This  werk"  apparently  means  the  poem  in  hand,  and  "swich 
stryf"  the  strife  of  the  Flower  and  the  Leaf. 

Since  the  author  of  our  poem  was  first  of  all  an  imitator  of 
Chaucer,  it  seems  probable  that  the  passage  cited  above  furnished 
him  direct  inspiration.  It  is  also  entirely  proper  to  conclude 
from  Chaucer's  language,  especially  in  connection  with  that  of 
Deschamps,  soon  to  be  quoted,  that  there  was  a  sentimental  strife 
between  orders  of  the  Flower  and  the  Leaf,  and  that  it  was  of 
comparatively  recent  origin  when  Chaucer  wrote  his  Prologue, 
about  1385-86. 

125 


6  GrEORGE   L.    MARSH 

DESCHAMPS'    MENTION    OP    THE    ORDERS 

Four  short  poems  by  Eustache  Deschamps,  in  which  the  strife 
of  the  Flower  and  the  Leaf  is  mentioned,  were  written  probably 
about  the  same  time  as  Chaucer's  Prologue  to  his  Legend.1  Two 
ballades  and  a  rondeau  are  in  favor  of  the  Flower,  and  one  ballade 
in  favor  of  the  Leaf.     It  seems  desirable  to  reprint  them  in  full: 

I.    Balade  Amoureuse 
(Sur  Vordre  de  la  Fleur) 
Qui  est  a  choiz  de  deux  choses  avoir, 
Eslire  doit  et  choisir  la  meillour. 
Et  si  me  faut  que  je  prengne,  savoir: 
De  deux  arbres  ou  la  fueille  ou  la  flour: 
Qu'en  la  fueille  est  plaisir  pour  sa  verdour, 
Et  qui  resjoist  les  cuers  des  vrays  amans, 
Et  aux  oysiaux  fait  chanter  leurz  doulz  chans, 
Et  tient  toudiz  une  saison  sa  place, 
Maiz  quant  au  fort  sa  beauts  est  nians, 
J'aim  plus  la  fleur  que  la  fueille  ne  face.  10 

Car  la  fueille  n'a  pas  tant  de  pouoir, 

De  bien,  de  senz,  de  force  et  de  valour 

Comine  la  flour;  et  ce  puet  apparoir 

Qu'elle  a  beauts,  bonte,  fresche  coulour, 

Et  rent  a  tous  tresprecieux  odour, 

Et  fait  bon  fruit  que  mains  sont  desirans, 

Duquel  avoir  est  uns  chascuns  engrans. 

Maiz  la  fueille  sans  flour  et  fruit  trespasse, 

Et  sans  odour  devient  poudre  en  tous  temps. 

J'aim  plus  la  fleur  que  la  fueille  ne  face.  20 

Pour  ce  qu'elle  vault  mieulx,  a  dire  voir, 

Que  la  fueille  qui  n'a  nulle  doucour, 

Et  fruit  ne  fait  au  matin  ny  au  soir. 

La  fueille  n'est  fors  que  pour  faire  honnour 

Et  pom  garder  celle  fleur  nuit  et  jour 

De  la  pluie,  du  tempest  et  des  vans, 

Comme  celle  qui  n'est  que  sa  servans, 

i  See  Professor  Kittredge's  discussion  of  them  in  Modern  Philology,  Vol.  I,  pp.  3-6;  and 
Professor  Lowes'  article  cited  above,  p.  124,  n.  1.  The  probable  relation  of  Deschamps' 
ballades  to  F.  L.  was  first  pointed  out  by  Sandras  in  his  £tude  sur  Chaucer  (1859),  pp.  102, 
103.  Ho  gave  no  detailed  attention  to  them,  however,  and  did  not  mention  the  rondeau. 
As  Professor  Kittredge  says,  editors  of  Chaucer  have  ignored  them  in  relation  to  L.  G.  II'. ; 
and  even  Professor  Skeat  does  not  mention  them  in  connection  with  his  reprint  of  F.  L. 
The  poems  are  grouped  together  in  the  complete  edition  of  Deschamps'  works  published  by 
the  Societe  des  Anciens  Testes  Francais,  Vol..  IV,  pp.  257  ff. 

126 


"The  Flower  and  the  Leaf" 

Maiz  en  tous  temps  a  fleur  de  tous  la  grace, 

Comnie  belle,  gracieuse  et  plaisans. 

J'aim  plus  la  fleur  que  la  fueille  ne  face.  30 

II.    Balade. 
(Des  deux  ordres  de  la  Feuille  et  de  la  Fleur) 
{E,loge  de  la  Fleur) 
Pour  ce  que  j'ay  oy  parler  en  France 
De  deux  ordres  en  ramoureuse  loy, 
Que  dames  ont  chascune  en  defferance, 
L'une  fueille  et  l'autre  fleur,  j'octroy 
Mon  corps,  mon  cuer  a  la  fleur;  et  pourquoy! 
Pour  ce  qu'en  tout  a  pris,  loange  et  grace 
Plus  que  fueille  qui  en  pourre  trespasse 
Et  n'a  au  mieux  fors  que  verde  coulour, 
Et  la  fleur  a  beauts  qui  trestout  passe. 
A  droit  jugier  je  me  tien  a  la  flour.  10 

Celle  doit  on  avoir  en  reverance, 

Sy  l'y  aray;  qu'en  toutes  choses  voy 

Loer  la  flour  en  bonte\  en  vaillance, 

En  tous  deduis,  en  manniere,  en  arroy; 

S'on  scet  rien  bon,  c'est  la  flour  pour  un  roy. 

En  tous  estas  vient  la  fleur  a  plaisance: 

De  tout  dit  on,  et  par  grant  exellance, 

Que  cilz  ou  celle  a  la  fleur  sans  retour 

De  quoy  que  soit,  tele  est  racoustumance: 

A  droit  jugier  je  me  tien  a  la  flour.  20 

Amour  la  sieut,  doulz  desir,  esperance, 

Beauts,  bont6,  et  de  tous  loer  Toy. 

Coulour,  odour  et  fruit  de  souffisance 

Viennent  de  ly.     Maiz  mie  n'apercoy 

Que  la  fueille  ait  nulle  vertu  en  soy, 

Ne  que  doucour,  fruit,  ne  grant  plaisir  face. 

Maiz  maintes  foys  apalit  et  efface, 

Ne  rien  ne  voy  en  li  de  grant  vigour 

Fors  de  couvrir  la  fleur  dessus  sa  place: 

A  droit  jugier  je  me  tien  la  flour.  30 

Celle  humble  flour  aray  en  remembrance 
Qui  tant  noble  est,  humble  et  de  maintien  coy, 
Que  n'est  tresor,  pierre,  avoir  ne  finance, 
Qui  comparer  peust  a  li  par  ma  foy. 
Son  ordre  prain  et  humblement  recoy, 
Qui  plus  digne  est  d'esmeraude  ou  topace: 
127 


George  L.  Marsh 

Guillaume  fay  La  Tremouille,  or  li  place 

Que  du  porter  me  face  tant  d'onour; 

Car  ordre  n'est  qui  plus  mon  cuer  solace. 

A  droit  jugier  je  me  tien  a  la  flour.  40 

Et  qui  vouldra  avoir  la  congnoissance 

Du  tresdoulx  nom  que  par  oir  congnoy 

Et  du  pais  ou  est  sa  demourance 

Voist  en  l'ille  d'Albyon  en  recoy, 

En  Lancastre  le  trouvera,  ce  croy. 

P.  H.  et  E.  L.  I.  P.  P.  E.  trace, 

Assemble  tout;  ces  .viii.  lettres  compasse, 

S'aras  le  nom  de  la  fleur  de  valour, 

Qui  a  gent  corps,  beaux  yeux  et  douce  face. 

Au  droit  jugier  je  me  tien  a  la  flour.  50 

l'envoy 
Koyne  d'amours,  de  douce  contenance, 
Qui  tout  passez  en  senz  et  en  honnour, 
Plus  qu'a  la  fueille  vous  faiz  obeissance: 
A  droit  jugier  je  me  tien  a  la  flour. 

III.    Rondeau 
(Sur  Elyon  de  Nillac) 
Tresdouce  flour,  Elyon  de  Nillac, 
Me  tien  a  vous  et  non  pas  a  la  fueille, 
Car  po  est  gent  qui  avoir  ne  la  veille. 

On  met  souvent  les  fueilles  en  un  sac, 

Ains  que  la  fruit  ne  que  la  fleur  se  queille.  5 

Tresdouce  flour,  Elyon  de  Nillac, 

Me  tien  a  vous  et  non  pas  a  la  fueille. 

Maiz  vous  estes  le  precieux  eschac 

Qui  ne  souffrez  que  nulz  pour  vous  se  deuille. 

A  vous  me  rent,  vo  pit6  me  recueille;  10 

Tresdouce  flour,  Elyon  de  Nillac, 

Me  tien  a  vous  et  non  pas  a  la  fueille, 

Car  po  est  gent  qui  avoir  ne  la  vueille. 

IV.    Autre  Balade 
(Des  deux  ordres  de  la  Feuille  et  de  la  Fleur) 
{E<loge  de  la  Feuille) 
Vous  qui  prisez  et  loez  la  fleur  tant, 
Voulons  par  droit  la  fueille  soustenir. 
Car  au  jour  d'ui  n'est  ne  petit  ne  grant, 
128 


10 


20 


"The  Flower  and  the  Leaf" 

S'il  a  raison,  que  ne  doye  tenir 

Que  Dieux  la  fist  en  tous  arbres  venir 

Pour  resjoyr  dames  et  damoisiaux 

Et  pour  rendre  leur  chant  aux  doulx  oysiaux. 

Par  sa  verdour  tuit  nous  esjoyssons, 

Sans  li  ne  puet  li  mondes  estre  biaux. 

Pour  ce  a  fueille  plus  qu'a  fleur  nous  tenons. 

Or  responde  qui  veult,  en  arguant: 

La  fleur  ne  puet  fors  de  la  feuille  issir, 

Et  se  la  fleur  de  la  fueille  descent, 

Sa  mere  est  done  la  fueille  sans  mentir; 

Naistre  la  fait,  puis  croistre  et  espennir, 

Et  la  norrit  en  ses  tresdoulx  rainsiaux 

Virginalment;  fuelle  est  riches  joyaux, 

Qui  ainsi  fait  la  fleur  dont  nous  parlons; 

Sur  toutes  fleurs  est  la  fueille  royaux: 

Pour  ce  a  fueille  plus  qu'a  fleur  nous  tenons. 

Et  s'il  avient  qu'il  face  un  po  de  vent, 
La  fleur  verrez  et  sa  colour  palir, 
En  ordure  chiet  et  va  au  neant, 
Fruit  et  colour  li  faut  perdre  et  perir. 
Maiz  la  fueille  ne  puet  nul  temps  morir; 
Tousjours  se  tient  forte,  ferme  et  loyaulx, 
Vert  en  couleur  et  amoureuse  a  ciaulx 
Qu'elle  recoit  en  l'ombre  de  ses  dons, 
En  destruisant  les  chaleurs  desloyaux. 
Pour  ce  a  fueille  plus  qu'a  fleur  nous  tenons. 

En  grans  chaleurs  voit  on  prendre  souvent 

Fueilles  de  saulx  pour  malades  garir; 

Es  cours  royaux,  en  maint  riche  couvent, 

Arbres  feuilles  pour  les  lieux  rafrechir. 

En  May  voit  on  chascun  de  vert  vestir; 

On  fait  dossier  es  cours  des  arbrissiaux; 

Fueilles  porte  qui  veult  estre  nouviaux: 

En  cuer  d'iver  fueilles  de  lierre  avons, 

Maiz  fleur  n'avez  en  arbres  n'en  vessiaux. 

Pour  ce  a  fueille  plus  qu'a  fleur  nous  tenons.  40 

De  vostre  fruit  que  la  fleur  va  portant 
Voit  on  aucun  par  droit  anientir; 
Du  mengier  sont  maint  et  maintes  engrant, 
Maiz  petit  vault  pour  le  corps  maintenir. 
Fleur  ne  se  puet  a  fueille  appartenir; 
129 


30 


10  George  L.  Marsh 

Dessoubz  li  vont  cerfs,  bisches  et  chevriaux 

Sanglers  et  dains,  connins  et  laperiaux, 

Tous  les  deduis  que  par  le  bos  querons, 

Fueille  en  lorier,  de  houx,  jardins,  preaux ; 

Pour  ce  a  fueille  plus  qu'a  fleur  nous  tenons.  50 

l'envoy 
Koyne  sur  fleurs  en  vertu  dernourant, 
Galoys  d'Aunoy,  Mornay  Pierre  ensement 
De  Tremoille,  li  borgDes  Porquerons, 
Et  d'Araynes  Lyonnet  vont  loant, 
Et  Thuireval  vostre  bien  qui  est  grant; 
Pour  ce  a  fueille  plus  qu'a  fleur  nous  tenons. 

It  is  obvious  that  the  foregoing  poems  are  of  very  unequal 
value,  so  far  as  any  possible  relation  with  F.  L.,  or  any  influence 
upon  it,  is  concerned.  The  rondeau  (III),  indeed,  may  be  dis- 
regarded altogether.  It  is  merely  a  personal  tribute,  couched  in 
language  more  naturally  applied  to  a  woman,  but  in  this  case 
apparently  intended  for  a  woman  to  send  to  a  man,  since  Helion 
de  Naillac  was  councilor  and  chamberlain  of  King  Charles  VI  of 
France.1  A  personal  compliment,  also,  to  Philippa  of  Lancaster, 
is  the  chief  burden  of  the  second  ballade,  in  favor  of  the  Flower 
(II) ;  which,  however,  is  of  considerably  greater  value  to  us  than 
the  rondeau,  because  it  specifically  declares  that  the  poet  has 
heard  of  the  existence,  in  French  amorous  law,  of  Orders  of  the 
Flower  and  the  Leaf.  Though  here  said  to  be  orders  of  women, 
they  apparently  did  not  exclude  men  from  membership,  for  in 
both  the  second  and  the  third  ballades  (II  and  IV)  we  find  the 
names  of  men  belonging  to  the  orders. 

The  first  and  last  ballades,  then,  are  of  most  interest  to  us, 
because  they  present  clear-cut  arguments  in  favor,  respectively,  of 
the  flower  and  the  leaf.  In  the  first  the  poet  says  that,  though 
the  verdure  of  the  leaf  gives  pleasure  to  the  hearts  of  true  lovers,2 
and  moves  the  birds  to  sing  sweetly,3  and  though  the  leaf  lasts 
during  a  season,4  yet,  because  its  beauty  is  nothing,  he  prefers  the 
flower ;   for  the  beauty  and  color  and  odor  of  the  flower,  and  the 

i  Raynaud,  CEuvres  de  Deschamps,  Vol.  X,  p.  215  ;  Kittredge,  Modem  Philology,  Vol.  I,  p.  5. 
a  Cf.  I,  5-6 ;  II,  8;  IV,  8,  27  ;  F.  £.,  485,  486,  551-54. 

3  Cf.  I,  7 ;  IV,  7  ;  F.  L.,  447,  448.  4  Cf.  I,  8 ;  IV,  25,  26 ;  F.  L.,  551-56. 

130 


"The  Flower  and  the  Leaf"  11 

fruit  that  comes  from  it,  make  it  of  much  greater  value  than  the 
leaf,  which  has  none  of  these  good  qualities,  but  is  worthless 
except  to  protect  the  flower  from  rain  and  wind.1  Because  of  the 
side  taken  in  I  and  II,  the  argument  is  of  course  directly  opposed 
to  that  in  F.  L.j  yet  it  is  surprising  how  many  of  the  points  made 
in  favor  of  the  leaf  are  suggested  here — its  pleasant  verdure  and 
enduring  quality,  its  influence  on  birds  and  true  lovers,  and  the 
protection  it  affords  the  flower  against  storms  of  various  kinds. 
Indeed,  there  is  little  else  but  elaboration  of  these  points  in  the 
long  ballade  in  favor  of  the  leaf  (IV).  The  flower,  we  are  told, 
springs  from  the  leaf  and  depends  upon  it  for  nourishment.  If  a 
little  wind  comes,  the  flower  loses  its  color  and  falls  without  pro- 
ducing fruit ;  but  the  leaf  never  dies.  Instead,  it  always  remains 
green  and  fresh  and  "loyal,"  protecting  those  in  its  shadow  from 
the  heat,  and  healing  those  who  have  been  sick.2 

Thus  we  see  that  there  are  found  in  these  ballades  of 
Deschamps  nearly  all  the  arguments  of  our  poem  based  upon  the 
physical  characteristics  of  the  flower  and  the  leaf.  The  attribu- 
tion of  analogous  mental  and  moral  characteristics  to  the  mem- 
bers of  the  respective  orders,  however,  is  not  even  hinted  at  by 
Deschamps.  Nevertheless,  such  similarity  of  thought  and  expres- 
sion as  we  have  found,  especially  between  the  third  stanza  of 
Ballade  IV  and  the  accounts  of  the  storm  in  F.  L.,  can  hardly  be 
accounted  for  except  by  actual  influence  of  Deschamps  on  the 
English  poet,  or  joint  indebtedness  of  both  to  a  common  source 
not  now  known. 

CHARLES    d'oRLEANS'    MENTION    OP    THE    ORDERS 

Some  time  during  his  imprisonment  in  England  from  1415  to 
1440,  Charles  d'Orleans  wrote  the  following  ballades:3 

POEME    DE    LA   PRISON 

Ballade  LXI 
Le  premier  jour  du  mois  de  May, 
Trouve'  me  suis  en  compaignie 
Qui  estoit,  pour  dire  le  vray, 

1  Cf .  I,  24-27  ;  II,  28,  29 ;  IV,  16,  21-30 ;  F.  L.,  354-78,  551-65.       2  Cf .  IV,  31,  32 ;  F.  L.,  407-13. 

3 See  Poesies,  ed.  d'Hericault  (Paris,  1896) ;  Vol.  I,  pp.  79  ff.  So  far  as  I  am  aware,  these 
poems  have  not  been  previously  mentioned  in  print  in  connection  with  F.  L.  My  attention 
was  called  to  them  by  Professor  John  M.  Manly. 

131 


12  George  L.  Marsh 


De  gracieuset6  garnie; 

Et,  pour  oster  merencolie, 

Fut  ordonn6  qu'on  choisiroit, 

Comnie  fortune  donneroit, 

La  fueille  plaine  de  verdure, 

Ou  la  fleur  pour  toute  l'annee; 

Si  prins  le  feuille  pour  livree,  10 

Comme  lors  fut  mon  aventure. 

Tantost  apres  je  m'avisay 
Qu'a  bon  droit  l'avoye  choisie 
Car,  puis  que  par  mort  perdu  ay 
La  fleur,  de  tous  biens  enrichie, 
Qui  estoit  ma  Dame,  m'amie, 
Et  qui  de  sa  grace  m'amoit 
Et  pour  son  amy  me  tenoit, 
Mon  cueur  d'autre  flour  n'a  pas  cure; 
Adonc  cogneu  que  me  pensee  20 

Acordoit  a  ma  destinee, 
Comme  fut  lors  mon  aventure. 

Pource,  le  fueille  porteray 
Cest  an,  sans  que  point  je  l'oublie; 
Et  a  mon  povoir  me  tendray 
Entierement  de  sa  partie; 
Je  n'ay  de  nulle  flour  envie, 
Porte  la  qui  porter  la  doit, 
Car  la  fleur,  que  mon  cueur  amoit 
Plus  que  nulle  autre  creature,  30 

Est  hors  de  ce  monde  passee, 
Qui  son  amour  m'avoit  donnee, 
Comme  lors  fut  mon  aventure. 

envoi 
II  n'est  fueille,  ne  fleur  qui  dure 
Que  pour  un  temps,  car  esprouvee 
J'ay  la  chose  que  j'ay  contee 
Comme  lors  fut  mon  aventure. 

Ballade  LXII 
Le  lendemain  du  premier  jour  de  May, 
Dedens  mon  lit  ainsi  que  je  dormoye, 
Au  point  du  jour,  m'avint  que  je  songay 
Que  devant  moy  une  fleur  je  vebye 
Qui  me  disoit:  Amy,  je  me  souloye 
En  toy  fier,  car  pieca  mon  party 
132 


"The  Flower  and  the  Leaf"  13 

Tu  tenoies,  mais  mis  l'as  en  oubly, 

En  soustenant  la  fueille  contre  moy; 

J'ay  merveille  que  tu  veulx  faire  ainsi 

Kiens  n'ay  meffait,  se  pense  je,  vers  toy.  10 

Tout  esbahy  alors  je  me  trouvay, 
Si  respondy,  au  mieulx  que  je  savoye: 
Tresbelle  fleur,  oncques  je  ne  pensay 
Faire  chose  qui  desplaire  te  doye: 
Se,  pour  esbat,  Aventure  m'envoye 
Que  je  serve  le  fueille  cest  an  cy, 
Doy  je  pour  tant  estre  de  toy  banny  ? 
Nennil  certes,  je  fais  comme  je  doy 
Et  se  je  tiens  le  party  qu'ay  choisy, 
Riens  n'ay  meffait,  ce  pense  je,  vers  toy.  20 

Car  non  pour  tant,  honneur  te  porteray 
De  bon  vouloir,  quelque  part  que  je  soye, 
Tout  pour  l'amour  d'une  fleur  que  j'amay 
Ou  temps  passe\     Dieu  doint  que  je  la  voye 
En  Paradis,  apres  ma  mort,  en  joye; 
Et  pource,  fleur,  chierement  je  te  pry, 
Ne  te  plains  plus,  car  cause  n'as  pourquoy, 
Puis  que  je  fais  ainsi  que  tenu  suy, 
Riens  n'ay  meffait,  ce  pense  je,  vers  toy. 

ENVOI 

Le  verite"  est  telle  que  je  dy,  30 

J '  en  fais  juge  Amour,  le  puissant  Roy ; 
Tresdoulce  fleur,  point  ne  te  cry  mercy, 
Riens  n'ay  meffait,  se  pense  je,  vers  toy. 

These  two  poems  clearly  have  no  close  relation  to  F.  L. 
They  may  be  earlier  than  it  is,  but  there  are  no  such  resem- 
blances of  thought  and  expression  as  to  indicate  that  our  author 
knew  them;  or,  conversely,  that  the  Duke  of  Orleans  knew  the 
English  poem.  The  most  that  can  be  said  of  them  is  that  they 
appear  to  be  based  upon  the  same  amorous  strife,  which  they 
connect  with  the  celebration  of  the  first  of  May  by  a  well-dressed 
company  whose  members  —  "pour  oster  merencolie" — decide  to 
choose  the  leaf  or  the  flower  as  livery  for  the  whole  year.  This 
poet  chooses  the  leaf,  not  because  of  any  such  moral  superior- 
ity as  it  symbolizes  in  F.  L.,  nor  even  because  of  the  greater 
durability  and  usefulness  which  are  emphasized  in  the  last  ballade 

133 


14  George  L.  Marsh 

from  Deschamps;  but  because  since  his  lady's  death  he  cares  for 
no  flower  but  her.  And  he  comes  to  the  melancholy  conclusion 
that  neither  leaf  nor  flower  lasts  more  than  a  short  time. 

DOES    GOWER    MENTION    THE    ORDERS? 

It  seems  generally  to  have  been  taken  for  granted  that  Gower 
refers  to  the  strife  of  the  Flower  and  the  Leaf  in  the  description, 
in  the  eighth  book  of  the  Confessio  Amantis,  of  Cupid  and  his 

"parlement" 

Of  gentil  folk  that  whilom  were 
Lovers.1 

This  company  are  crowned  with 

Garlandes  noght  of  o  color, 
Some  of  the  lef,  some  of  the  flour, 
And  some  of  grete  Perles  were. 

It  is,  of  course,  probable  that  the  author  of  F.  L.  knew  this 
passage  from  C.  A.;  partly  because  of  the  resemblances  pointed 
out  by  Professor  Skeat,  and  partly  because  a  fifteenth-century 
English  writer  of  the  school  of  Chaucer  could  hardly  have  been 
ignorant  of  Gower's  great  English  poem.  And  it  must  be 
admitted  as  quite  possible  that  Gower  had  the  strife  of  Flower 
and  Leaf  in  mind.  Yet  the  last  line  quoted  above  seems  to 
preclude  the  idea  of  a  twofold  division  in  Gower's  company,  and 
suggests  the  probability  that  the  reference  is  merely  to  the 
common  custom  of  wearing  garlands,  generally  of  leaves  and 
flowers,  at  the  springtime  celebrations.2  Such  a  company  as 
that  described  by  Gower  is  regularly  met  in  Court  of  Love 
poems,3  and  garlands  are  part  of  its  regular  attire.  Professor 
Skeat  zealously  attempts  to  show  greater  resemblance  between 
Gower  and  F.  L.  by  skipping  a  number  of  pages  to 

The  grene  lef  is  overthrowe, 
and  the  following  lines,4  which  he  compares  with  F.  L.,  11.  358-64, 

iSee  Skeat's  Chaucerian  and  Other  Pieces,  pp.  lxviii-ix;  Gower's  Complete  Works,  ed. 
Macaulay,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  516;  Kittredge  in  Modern  Philology,  Vol.  I,  p.  2.  Gower's  mention  of 
garlands  of  the  flower  and  the  leaf  was  first  noticed  by  Warton,  History  of  English  Poetry, 
sec.  19;  ed.  Hazlitt,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  31.    The  passage  in  Gower  is  Book  VIII,  11.  2457  IV. 

2  See  pp.  153-57  below. 

3  See  W.  A.  Neilson's  "Origins  and  Sources  of  The  Court  of  Love,"  Harvard  Studies  and 
Notes  in  Philology  and  Literature,  Vol.  VI  (1899),  chap,  iii,  passim. 

*C.A.,  Book  VIII,  11.  2854  ff. 

134 


"The  Flower  and  the  Leaf"  15 

where  the  overthrow  of  the  followers  of  the  Flower  is  described. 
Any  such  comparison  is  entirely  unjustifiable,  however,  as  the 
passage  in  C.  A .  is  merely  part  of  a  rehearsal  of  the  progress  of 
the  seasons,  and  has  no  reference  whatever  to  the  leaves  which 
the  gentlefolks  of  Cupid's  company  wore. 

COMPARISONS    OF    FLOWER    AND    LEAF 

One  other  alleged  reference  to  the  strife  of  the  Flower  and  the 
Leaf  requires  brief  mention.  It  is  discussed  in  an  article  by  Pro- 
fessor C.  F.  McClumpha,1  calling  attention  to  Deschamps'  Lay  de 
Franchise  as  a  possible  model  for  F.  L.  Deschamps,  says  Mr. 
McClumpha,  "attaches  a  brief  comparison  of  the  flower  and  the 
leaf,"  and  the  author  of  the  English  poem,  beginning  with  the 
same  personages,  preserves  the  allegory.  This  is  a  singular  error; 
for,  though  Deschamps  indulges  in  a  good  deal  of  compliment  to 
an  unnamed  feminine  flower,  who  is  compared  with  the  daisy,  he 
nowhere  even  mentions  the  leaf  or  hints  at  the  strife  of  the 
Flower  and  the  Leaf.  The  word  feu  Me  does  not  occur  in  the 
poem,  except  as  applied  (in  1.  45)  to  the  petals  of  the  flower;  and 
there  is  not  the  remotest  suggestion  of  an  allegory  of  the  Flower 
and  the  Leaf.2 

An  obscure  comparison  of  the  flower  and  the  leaf  is  found  in 
a  short  Picard  poem  of  the  thirteenth  century,3  which  it  seems 
desirable  to  quote  in  full : 

L'HONNEDR    ET   l'AmOUB 

Qui  de  .II.  biens  le  millour4 
Laist,  encontre  sa  pensee, 
Et  prent  pom*  li  le  piour 
Bien  croi  que  c'est  esp[ro]v6e 

Tres-haute  folour. 
Cause  ai  d'  avoir  mon  penser 
A  ce  que  serve  ai  est6 
Ai  et  sui  de  vrai  ami 

1  Modern  Language  Notes,  Vol.  IV  (1889),  cols.  402  ff. 

'Deschamps' poem  is  of  some  importance,  however,  in  relation  to  the  general  setting 
and  machinery  of  F.  L.,  and  will  therefore  be  considered  further  in  chap,  iii  of  this 
investigation. 

3See  "Fragment  d'une  Anthologie  Picarde,"  ed.  A.  Boucherie,  Revue  des  Langues 
Romanes,  Vol.  Ill  (1872),  pp.  311  ff.    The  poem  cited  is  on  pp.  321,  322. 
*Cf.  Deschamps'  Ballade  I,  p.  126  above. 

135 


16  Geokge  L.  Marsh 

Sage,  courtois,  bien  secr6, 
G[ou]vren6  par  meuret6,  10 

Et  gentil,  preu  et  hardi, 
Et  qui  sur  tous  a  m'amour. 
Dont  sui  sou  vent  eno[ree] 
D'autrui  amer,  sans  secour. 
Mais  pour  mon  mieuls  sui  donnee, 
S'en  ferai  demour. 

Lasse!  il  m'est  trop  mal  tourn6 
A  dolour  et  a  griet6, 
Quant  je  ai  si  mal  parti 

Qu'il  me  faut  cont[re]  mon  gr6,  20 

Par  droite  necessity, 
De  corps  eslongier  cheli 
A  qui  m'otroi  sans  folour, 
Et  sans  estre  a  .  .  .  .  voee    [supply  lui?] 
De  coer;  mais  c'est  vains  labours, 
Car  tant  ne  doit  estre  amee 
Foelle  con  la  flours. 

Or  m'ont  amours  assent; 

Mais,  si  c'a  leur  volenti, 

Est  mieuls  qu'il  n'affier  a  mi.  30 

Tous  jours  doi  av[oir]  fond6 

Mon  desir  sur  loiault6, 

En  espoir  d' amour  garni. 

Car  tout  passe  de  valour, 

Chus  dont  s[ui  en]  amouree, 

D'un  si  gratieux  retour. 

Sage  doi  estre  avisee, 

Se  j'ai  chier  m'onnour. 

M.  Boucherie's  comment  on  this  poem  is  as  follows  (p.  313): 

Dans  VHonneur  et  V Amour,  vrai  bijou  de  versification,  la  femme 

aimee  se  resigne,  non  saus  lutte,  a  tenir  " eloigne  de  son  corps"  celui 

qu'elle  pr6fere.     Sans  doute  1' effort  est  penible,  mais  elle  doit  mettre 

l'honneur  au-dessus  de  l'amour,  "car,"  dit-elle  avec  un  rare   bonheur 

d'expression, 

"  Car  tant  ne  doit  estre  amee 
Foelle  con  la  flours." 

This  implied  connection   of  the   leaf   with  love,  the   flower  with 
honor,  is  rather  puzzling,1  and  I  have  not  found  anything  like  it 

1  Another  possible  interpretation  seems  to  be  that  this  mistress,  plain  in  comparison 
with  another,  cannot  expect  to  be  loved  like  the  other,  the  flower. 

136 


"The  Flower  and  the  Leaf"  17 

elsewhere.  Whatever  the  precise  origin  and  meaning  of  the 
comparison,  however,  there  does  not  appear  to  be  reference  to 
any  such  thing  as  the  later  strife  of  the  Flower  and  the  Leaf. 
The  poem  is  of  interest  only  because  of  this  early  setting-off  of 
the  one  against  the  other. 

In  a  great  many  other  cases  there  is  mention  of  flowers  and 
leaves  together;1  but  they  are  merely  part  of  the  natural  back- 
ground, and  the  juxtaposition  seems  without  significance.  The 
only  example  worth  quoting  is  from  Lydgate's  Reson  and  Sensu- 
allyte,2 11.  3900-2,  about  the  trees  in  the  garden  of  Deduit,  which 
nature  sustains: 

Ay  tendre,  fresh,  and  grene, 

Ageyn  thassaut  of  al[le]  shours 

Both  of  levys  and  of  flours. 

CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE  FLOWER  AND  THE  LEAF 

Reference  to  the  characteristics  of  the  flower  and  the  leaf  that 
are  emphasized  in  our  poem — the  perishable  nature  of  the  one 
and  the  comparative  permanence  of  the  other — is  frequently 
found. 

Thus  in  a  chanson  of  Gonthier  de  Soignies,  of  the  thirteenth 
century,  we  are  told  that 

Pucele  est  con  flors  de  rose, 
Qui  tost  vient  et  tost  trespasse.3 

In  Jean  de  Condi's  Dis  de  V  Entendemeni : 

eilrs  del  monde  et  richesce 


Kessamble  la  flour  qui  tost  sesce 
Et  poi  en  sa  biaute  demeure, 
Qu'ele  chiet  et  faut  en  une  heure.* 

1  As,  for  example,  in  Mahn,  Gedichte  der  Troubadours,  Nos.  lxxiii-iv,  ciii,  ccii,  ccxxi, 
ccxxviii,  cclxxxiii,  ccccxv,  dxxiv,  dlxiv,  dxcv,  etc.  The  list  might  be  greatly  prolongod,  if 
necessary,  from  nearly  all  kinds  of  mediaeval  poetry  in  various  languages. 

2Ed.  Sieper,  E.  E.  T.  S.  (1901-3). 

3  Trouveres  Beiges  (Nouvelle  Serie),  ed.  A.  Scheler  (Louvain,  1879),  p.  29,  11.  43,  44. 

*Dits  et  contes  de  Baudouin  de  Conde  et  de  son  Fils  Jean  de  Conde,  ed.  Scheler 
(Bruxelles,  1866-67),  Vol.  Ill,  p.  92,  11.  1417  ff. 

137 


18  George  L.  Marsh 

Lydgate  several  times  comments  on  the  transitoriness  of  the 
flower  in  a  way  that  strikingly  suggests  F.  L.  Thus  in  Beware 
of  Doubleness1  he  declares  ironically  that  because 

these  fresshe  somer-floures 
Whyte  and  rede,  blewe  and  grene, 
Ben  sodainly,  with  winter-shoures, 
Mad  feinte  and  fade,  withoute  wene, 

therefore  there  is  no  trust  or  steadfastness  in  anything  but  women. 
Another  ballade  of  Lydgate's  has  the  refrain: 

All  stant  on  chaunge  like  a  mydsomer  rose;2 
in  still  another  he  describes  how  "Alcestis  flour"   "in  stormys 
dreepithe;"3  and  in  B.  S.  beauty  is  compared  to  a  rose  that  fades 
with  a  storm.4     In  Henryson's  Testament  of  Cresseid5  is  the  line: 

Nocht  is  your  fairnes  bot  ane  faiding  flour. 
Other  references  could  be  made,  were  an  exhaustive  list  necessary. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  enduring  quality  of  certain  kinds  of 
leaves,  including  the  laurel,  the  oak,  and  the  hawthorn,  is  made 
prominent  in  Chaucer's  P.  F.,  11.  173  ff.,  and  in  Lydgate's  T.  G.* 
11.  503-16.  In  the  latter  passage  a  beautiful  lady  is  advised  to 
be  "unchanging  like  these  leaves  [hawthorn],  which  no  storm 
can  kill." 

It  should  also  be  noted  that  in  B.  B.,  buds  are  preferred  to 
blown  roses  because  of  their  greater  durability7 — a  reason  suffi- 
ciently similar  to  that  for  the  preference  of  leaf  over  flower  to  be 
of  interest. 

THE    FLOWER    AND    THE    LEAF    AS    SYMBOLS 

The  use  of  the  flower  and  the  leaf  as  symbols  is  paralleled  in 
a  rather  interesting  way  in  Christine  de  Pisan's  Dit  de  la  Bose* 
which  tells  of  the  formation  of  the  "Ordre  de  la  Rose"  for  the 
purpose  of  guarding  "la  bonne  renommSe  .  .  .  .  de  dames  en 
toute  chose."     This  poem   is,  as  the  editor  says,9  "en  quelque 

i  Chaucerian  and  Other  Pieces,  pp.  291  ff. 

2M.  P.,  ed.  Halliwell,  Percy  Society,  Vol.  II  (1840),  pp.  22  ff. 

3Jf.  P.,  p.  161.  *  LI.  6210-16. 

5  Chaucerian  and  Other  Pieces,  pp.  327  ff.,  1.  461. 

6  Ed.  Schick,  E.  E.  T.  S.,  1891.  7  LI.  1653  ff.,  Vol.  I,  p.  54,  Michel  ed. 

s  Oluvres  poitiques,  ed.  Roy  (Societe  dos  Anciens  Testes  Francais),  Vol.  II,  pp.  29  ff. 
9  Ibid.,  Vol.  II,  p.  x. 

138 


"The  Flower  and  the  Leaf"  19 

sort  le  couronnement  de  la  pol6mique  de  Christine  contre  l'oeuvre 
de  Jean  de  Meun"  in  satire  of  woman.  The  order  is  formed  at 
the  suggestion  of  the  "dame  et  deesse  de  Loyaute0'  (11.  90,  91), 
who  comes  directly  from  the  God  of  Love.  The  symbolism  of 
the  flower  is  more  like  that  of  the  leaf  in  our  poem,  for  the  poet 
is  the  friend  of  Diana  (1.  279).  The  rose  is  evidently  chosen 
because  of  the  controversy  relating  to  R.  R.,  and  there  is  no 
reference  to  any  symbolism  previously  attached  to  that  or  any 
other  flower. 

Mention  should  also  be  made,  in  this  connection,  of  the  well- 
known  Jeux  Floraux  of  Toulouse,  established  in  1324  by  seven 
Provencal  troubadours,  for  the  purpose  of  fostering  the  "gay 
science"  of  poetry.  Though  it  is  possible  that  the  author  of 
F.  L.  had  never  even  heard  of  this  southern  organization,  the 
name,  the  floral  emblems  given  to  winners  of  prizes,  and  the  date 
each  year  on  which  the  jeux  occurred — May  3 — are  all  of  interest 
as  evidence  of  the  way  in  which  flowers  were  used  as  symbols  in 
connection  with  observances  of  the  springtime. 

THE    MORAL    SIGNIFICANCE    OF    THE    ALLEGORY 

The  contrast  between  the  adherents  of  the  Leaf  and  of  the 
Flower  in  our  poem  is  not  quite  clear-cut.  Too  many  different 
sorts  of  people  are  included  in  the  company  of  the  Leaf,  and  the 
characterization  of  the  company  of  the  Flower  is  too  general. 
Yet  the  dominant  ideas — serious  achievement  and  steadfastness 
on  the  one  hand,  idleness  and  frivolity  on  the  other — are  plain 
enough,  and  are  expressed  elsewhere  in  ways  of  some  interest  to  us. 

Thus  it  is  of  value  to  examine  somewhat  in  detail  the  plan 
and  purpose  of  Le  livre  des  cent-ballades.1  A  young  man, 
riding  between  Pont-de-Ce  and  Angers,  meets  an  old  man,  who, 
suspecting  the  young  man  of  being  a  lover,  asks  him  whether  he 
intends  always  to  be  loyal  in  love  and  brave  in  war,  and  to  observe 
the  rules  of  French  chivalry.  The  young  man  promises,  and  pur- 
sues his  journey  till  he  meets  a  company  of  young  knights  and 
ladies  disporting  in  a  meadow  watered  by  the  Loire.  He  avoids 
the  crowd  and  proceeds  to  the  river-bank  to  watch  the  fish ;  but 

i  Ed.  de  Queux  de  Saint  Hilaire  (Paris,  1868). 

139 


20  George  L.  Marsh 

is  perceived  by  one  of  the  youngest  and  merriest  ladies  of  the 
company,  who  seeks  him  out  and  unasked  gives  "conseils  d'amour 
ledger,  d'amour  volage,  bien  diff brents  des  austeres  et  vigoureuses 
lemons  qui  vient  de  lui  donner  le  vieux  chevalier."1  The  young 
man  says  he  prefers  to  be  loyal,  and,  in  answer  to  the  lady's 
question  where  he  received  such  advice,  tells  her  of  the  old  man 
whom  he  had  met.  She  proposes  then  that  they  submit  to  cer- 
tain chevaliers  renowned  both  in  love  and  war  the  question: 

Qui  plus  grant 
Joie  donne  &  plus  entiere, 
Loiaut6,  ou  faux  semblant 

En  amant. 

He  prefers  to  make  the  issue  squarely  as  to  the  relative  value  or 
success  in  love  of  loyalty  or  falsity;  but  she  demands  that  they 
ask  of  the  judges  only  if  they  think  — 

Qu'estre  secret  &  plaisant, 

Pourchacant 
En  mains  lieux  joie  pleniere, 
Ne  soit  fait  de  vray  amant. 

The  terms  are  finally  agreed  upon,  and  the  question  is  sub- 
mitted, with  the  result  that  nine  out  of  twelve  answers  received, 
purporting  to  come  from  some  of  the  most  famous  men  of  the 
time  (not  far  from  1390),  favor  loyalty. 

There  is,  to  be  sure,  in  the  foregoing  no  mention  of  regular 
orders,  with  symbolic  attire  and  decorations,  and  the  strife  is 
more  specific  and  narrower  in  range  than  that  of  F.  L.j  but  the 
resemblance  is  noteworthy  nevertheless.  As  Professor  Neilson 
says:  "In  this  book  we  have  very  clearly  opposed  two  different 
ideals  of  love,"2  the  old  ideal  of  Ovid  and  his  imitators,  and  a 
newer  and  nobler  ideal  not  so  frequently  expressed.  Such  a  con- 
trast is  suggested,  however,  in  the  nightingale's  complaint  of  the 
degeneracy  of  love  in  Fablel  and  Venus,3  and  was  definitely  made 
long  before  the  latter  part  of  the  fourteenth  century ;  for  instance, 
in  a  Provencal  poem  mentioned  by  Professor  Rajna,4  in  which  we 
find  "l'Amor  Fino  o  Verace,  antagonista  dell'  Amor  Falso." 

1  Editor's  Introduction,  p.  viii.  3  P-  162  below. 

2  Harvard  Studies,  Vol.  VI,  p.  198.  *  Le  corti  d'amore  (Milano,  1890),  p.  28. 

140 


"The  Flower  and  the  Leaf"  21 

The  conflict  in  F.  L.,  however,  is  not  primarily  or  chiefly  a 
love  conflict.  In  some  ways  it  more  closely  resembles  that  between 
Reason  and  Sensuality  in  Lydgate's  amplification  of  Les  Echoes 
Amoureux,1  chiefly  because  Sensuality  causes  men  to  be 

Ful  of  plesaunce  and  fals  delyte    (801) 
And  of  flesshly  appetyte. 

Still  more  interesting,  in  the  same  poem,  is  the  rivalry  of  Diana 
and  Venus.  The  poet  meets  the  former  in  her  evergreen  forest 
of  chastity.  She  is  clad  in  white,  ornamented  with  pearls,  and 
wears  a  golden  crown.  She  bewails  the  change  from  the  days 
when  she  was  more  highly  regarded  than  Venus,  and  love  was 
pure  and  faithful.  She  particularly  detests  "  Ydelnesse,"  the  por- 
ter of  the  garden  of  Deduit,  Venus'  son;  and  warns  the  poet  at 
great  length  against  the  idle  pleasures  of  this  garden.  In  almost 
every  way2  the  subjects  of  Venus  and  Cupid  in  the  garden  of 
Deduit  resemble  the  frivolous  company  of  the  Flower.  And 
though  Diana  has  no  company  here,  she  bewails  the  loss  of  fol- 
lowers who  either  in  chastity  or  steadfastness  were  like  some  of 
the  groups  in  the  company  of  the  Leaf.  Practically  the  only 
inconsistency  is  that  Diana,  as  in  classical  mythology,  spends  her 
time  hunting  (to  avoid  idleness,  she  says,  1.  3000) ;  whereas  in 
F.  L.  excessive  love  of  hunting  is  one  of  the  things  condemned. 
The  pleasures  of  the  garden  of  Deduit,  to  be  sure,  do  not  differ 
materially  from  pleasures  described  in  R.  R.  and  other  poems 
of  its  class ;  but  there  is  nowhere  else,  so  far  as  I  have  discovered, 
so  important  a  contrast  of  the  two  ways  of  life  contrasted  in  F.  L. 

ORDERS  IN  THE  AMOROUS  LAW 

The  fact  that  this  conflict  between  two  ways  of  life  is  attached, 
in  F.  L.,  to  orders  mentioned  by  Deschamps  as  of  the  "amorous 
law,"  requires  little  comment.  The  origin  and  characteristics  of 
this  law  have  received  such  detailed  treatment  that  repetition  is 
unnecessary.3    Suffice  it  to  say  that  during  the  Middle  Ages  there 

i  R.  S.,  ed.  Sieper. 

2  See  more  detailed  analysis  in  chap,  iii  below. 

3  See  especially  P.  Rajna,  Le  corti  d' amove  (Milano,  1890) ;  E.  Trojel,  Andreae  Capellani 
Regit  Francorum  de  Amore  (Copenhagen,  1892) ;  J.  F.  Rowbotham,  The  Troubadours  and 
Courts  of  Love  (London,  1895) ;  L.  F.  Mott,  The  System  of  Courtly  Love  (Boston,  1896) ;  W.  A. 
Neilson,  Harvard  Studies,  Vol.  VI;  and  various  references  given  in  the  books  just  named. 

141 


22  George  L.  Marsh 

did  grow  up — whether  in  actual  practice  or  poetic  fancy — an 
elaborate  system  of  courtly  love,  formulated  and  celebrated  in  a 
long  series  of  poems,  with  which  ours  is  connected,  not  only  by 
"the  landscape,  the  costuming,  and  the  role  of  the  queens,"1  but 
also  by  the  fact  that  the  Orders  of  the  Flower  and  the  Leaf  were 
orders  in  the  amorous  law.2  Mention  has  already  been  made  of 
a  slightly  similar  order  of  which  a  flower  is  used  as  the  symbol.3 
This  "Ordre  de  la  Rose"  may  have  been  only  a  poetical  fancy; 
but  in  1399  an  "Ordre  de  la  Dame  Blanche  h  l'Escu  Verd"  was 
actually  formed,4  and  there  is  interesting  record  of  a  "Cour 
Amoureuse"  of  1400.5 

It  is  conceivable  that  the  Orders  of  the  Flower  and  the  Leaf 
did  not  actually  exist,  since  literary  influence  may  account  for  all 
definite  mention  we  have  of  them.  Chaucer  and  Deschamps  knew 
some,  at  least,  of  each  other's  writings,6  and  Charles  d'Orleans  and 
the  author  of  F.  L.  in  all  probability  knew  both  Chaucer  and 
Deschamps.  Yet  the  manner  in  which  all  the  writers  speak  of  the 
contrasted  orders  is  hard  to  reconcile  with  anything  but  their 
actual  existence  in  connection  with  the  observance  of  May  Day. 
Chaucer's  reference,  as  already  pointed  out,7  seems  to  imply  that 
the  orders  were  not  very  old  when  he  was  writing  the  Prologue 
to  L.  O.  W.  (about  1385-86).  Deschamps,  too,  writing  about  the 
same  time,  says,  "I  have  heard  of  two  orders,"  etc.;8  as  if  the 
information  had  recently  come  to  him.  Charles  d'Orleans'  Poeme 
de  la  prison  cannot  be  later  than  1-440,  and  his  reference  to  the 
Orders  of  the  Flower  and  the  Leaf  is  probably  due  to  the  recollec- 
tion of  May  Day  festivities  in  France  before  he  was  imprisoned 
in  1415.  F.  L.  can  hardly  be  dated  later  than  1450,  and  the 
various  facts  to  be  observed  as  to  its  apparent  relations  with  early 
poems  of  Lydgate9  incline  me  to  favor  a  somewhat  early  date. 
Thus  it  seems  probable  that  Orders  of  the  Flower  and  the  Leaf 
existed  as  a  part  of  the  observance  of  May  Day,  according  to  the 
"amorous  law,"  in  portions  of  both  France  and  England,  some 

i  Neilson,  p.  150.  2  Deschamps'  Ballade  II,  p.  127  above.  3  p,  138  above. 

*  To  be  discussed  below,  p.  153. 

&See  A.  Piaget,  in  Romania,  Vol.  XX,  pp.  417  ff. ;  Vol.  XXXI,  pp.  597  ff. 
6  See  the  articles  of  Kittredge  and  Lowes  previously  cited,  p.  124  above. 
'P.  125  above.  8  Ballade  II,  p.  127  above.  9See  especially  chap,  iii  below. 

142 


"The  Flower  and  the  Leaf"  23 

time  during  the  period  beginning  not  long  before  1385  and  end- 
ing before  the  middle  of  the  following  century.  It  is  hardly  prob- 
able that  the  orders  were  very  important,  however,  or  there  would 
have  been  more  frequent  mention  of  them  than  we  find. 

CHAPTEK  II.  THE  ACCESSORIES  OF  THE  ALLEGORY 

A  number  of  the  details  of  F.  L.,  as  to  costumes,  chaplets,  birds, 
trees,  and  so  forth,  are  clearly  symbolic  in  relation  to  the  central 
allegory. 

THE    COSTUMES  —  WHITE    AND    GREEN 

The  costumes  are,  we  have  noted,  white  and  green — white  for 
the  adherents  of  the  Leaf,  green  for  the  adherents  of  the  Flower. 
At  first  this  reversal  of  an  apparently  natural  choice  may  seem 
strange,  for  the  daisy — the  flower  here  worshiped — is  white,  and 
the  leaf  is  green;  but  when  we  remember  that  white  is  proverbi- 
ally (and  most  naturally)  the  color  of  purity,  the  white  attire  of 
the  chaste  followers  of  the  Leaf  is  at  once  seen  to  be  appropriate. 

The  use  of  white  as  symbolic  of  purity  is  so  common  as  scarcely 
to  need  comment :  Thus  Beatrice,  when  Dante  sees  her  at  the  age 
of  eighteen,  is  attired  in  white,  "the  hue  of  Faith  and  Purity."1 
Deschamps  mentions  the  traditional  interpretation  of  the  color  in 
his  Lay  de  Franchise,  1.  36,  and  his  Eloge  d'une  dame  du  nom 
de  Marguerite.2  Christine  de  Pisan,  in  her  Dit  de  la  Rose,3  and 
Lydgate,  in  R.  S.,*  represent  Diana  as  clothed  in  white — Diana 
the  goddess  of  purity  and  leader  of  the  company  of  the  Leaf. 
Especially  interesting  in  this  connection  is  another  poem  by  Lyd- 
gate— Pur  le  Roy,5  an  account  of  the  entry  of  Henry  VI  into 
London  in  14:32,  after  his  coronation  in  France. 

The  citezens  eche  one  of  the  citee, 
In  her  entent  that  thei  were  pure  and  clene, 
Chees  hem  of  white  a  full  fayre  lyver6, 
In  every  craft  as  it  whas  welle  sene; 

1  Gardner,  Dante  Primer  (1900),  p.  46. 

2  GSuvres,  Vol.  II,  pp.  203  ff. ;  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  379,  380, 1.  7. 

3  CEuvres  po&tiques,  Vol.  II,  pp.  29  ff„  11.  279-81.  *  LI.  2816,  2822-24. 

$M.  P.,  ed.  Halliwell,  pp.  1  £E.  The  same  event  is  described  in  the  Chronicles;  see 
especially  Gregory's,  ed.  Gairdner,  Historical  Collections  of  a  Citizen  of  London  in  the  Fif- 
teenth Century  (Camden  Society,  1876),  pp.  173  ff. 

143 


24  George  L.  Marsh 

To  shew  the  trouthe  that  they  did  mene 
Toward  the  Kyng,  had  made  hem  feithefully, 
In  sondery  devise  embroudered  richely.1 

On  the  bridge  a  tower  was  erected,  from  which  issued  three  ladies 
representing  Nature,  Grace,  and  Fortune.  On  each  side  of  these 
ladies  were  seven  maidens — 

Alle  clad  in  white,  in  tokyn  of  clennes, 
Lyke  pure  virginis  as  in  ther  ententis.2 

But  purity  is  not  the  only  meaning  attached  by  mediaeval  poets 
to  white.  The  appropriateness  of  the  color  for  the  Nine  Worthies, 
the  Douze  Pairs,  the  Knights  of  the  Round  Table  and  of  the 
Garter,3  is  indicated  in  the  following  lines  from  Watriquet  de 
Couvin's  Bis  des  .VIII.  Couleurs: 

Cils  autres  cuers  de  coragour,  (206) 

Cils  visages  simples  dehors, 

Qui  n'espargne  force  ne  cors 

A  biaus  fais  d'armes  commencier, 

Cils  qui  onques  ne  volt  tencier 

A  honour,  ainz  le  quiert  touz  diz 

Simples  est  et  douz  et  hardiz: 

II  portera  par  sa  samblance 

L'argentee  couleur  tres  blance, 

Qui  nous  moustre  en  humility 

Hardye  debonnairete> 

AspretG,  travail  a  suom-, 

Et  criera  par  grant  vigour 

.1.  cri  courtois  et  deduisant: 

"Clart6,  clart6,  du  roy  luisant!"* 

A  third  symbolic  meaning  is  given  to  white  by  Guillaume  de 
Maehaut,  in  his  B6mede  de  Fortune,5  where  we  are  told  that  the 
color  signifies  joy.  A  woman  in  white  called  Joye-sanz-fin 
appears  in  a  poem  attributed  to  Deschamps,6  who  was,  it  will  be 
remembered,  a  pupil  of  Maehaut.     Connected  perhaps  with  this 

1 1  emend  HalliwelTs  bad  punctuation. 

2 It  seems  worthy  of  note,  by  the  way,  that  these  virgins  sang  '"Most  aungelyk  with 
hevenly  armony"  (p.  10).    Cf.  F.  L.,  131-33. 
3F.L.,  504,  515,  516,  519. 

*  Dits  de  Watriquet  de  Couvin,  ed.  Scheler  (Bruxelles,  1868),  pp.  311  ff. 
SQSuvres  choisies,  ed.  Tarbe  (Paris,  1849),  pp.  83  ff. 
<*  CEuvres  de  Deschamps,  ed  Raynaud,  Vol.  X,  p.  lxxxi. 

144 


"The  Flower  and  the  Leaf"  25 

interpretation  are  two  references  in  Gaston  Paris'  collection  of 
Chansons  du  XVme  si&cle.1  In  chanson  XLII  the  poet  says 
he  is  too  sad  to  sing — 

Quant  le  Vaudevire  est  jus 
Qui  souloit  estre  jouyeulx, 

Et  blanche  livree  porter, 
Chascun  ung  blanc  chapperon,2 
Tout  par  bonne  intencion 
Noblement  sans  mal  penser. 

Somewhat  similarly,  in  chanson  LVI,  Olivier  Bachelm  is 
addressed  in  the  following  terms: 

Vous  soulli^s  gaiment  chanter 
Et  demener  jouyeuse  vie, 
Et  la  blanche  livree  porter 
Par  la  pais  de  Normandie. 

This  "blanche  livree"  was  apparently  the  sign  of  some  organiza- 
tion, but  the  editor  of  the  Chansons  gives  no  definite  information 
about  it.  As  Bachelm  was  the  fifteenth-century  Norman  poet  who 
wrote  convivial  songs  called  by  the  name  of  the  valley  (Vaudevire) 
where  he  lived,  it  seems  hardly  likely  that  the  wearing  of  white 
livery  in  his  time  and  by  his  merry  companions  has  any  relation 
to  the  wearing  of  white  by  the  followers  of  the  Leaf,  in  spite  of 
the  fact  that  11.  11  and  12  of  chanson  XLII  may  reasonably  be 
taken  to  imply  either  purity  or  steadfastness,  or  both.  These 
chansons  were  probably  later  than  F.  L.,  however,  so  that  they 
interfere  in  no  way  with  the  conclusion  that  the  use  of  white  in 
our  poem  was  entirely  in  accord  with  traditions  prevalent  at  the 
time  it  was  written. 

There  is  abundant  evidence  that  white  was  associated  with  the 
amorous  law  and  its  festivities.  Thus  in  G.  Villani's  Cronica3 
there  is  mention  of  the  appearance — in  Florence,  June,  1283— of 
"una  compagnia  ....  di  mille  uomini  o  piu,  tutti  vestiti  di  robe 

1  Societe  des  Anciens  Textes  Francais,  1875. 

2  In  this  connection  may  be  mentioned  Froissart's  account  of  the  "blans  chaperons"  of 
Ghent,  1379  {Chroniques,  chaps,  cccxlviii  ff.;  Berners'  translation).  I  see  no  reason  for 
suspecting  any  relation  between  these  two  kinds  of  "white  hats,"  but  they  indicate  how 
much  was  made  of  details  of  livery  or  uniform,  in  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries. 

SLibro  VII,  cap.  lxxxix;  Biblioteca  classica  italiana,  Secolo  XIV,  No.  21  (Trieste,  1857), 
Vol.  I,  p.  148. 

145 


26  George  L.  Marsh 

bianche  con  uno  signore  detto  dell'  Amore."  Similarly,  in  May, 
1290,  "more  than  a  thousand  persons,  dressed  in  white,  paraded 
the  streets  [of  Florence  again],  guided  by  the  'Lord  of  Love.'  nl 
In  Jean  de  Conde's  Messe  des  Oisiaus2  white-clad  canonesses  pre- 
sent a  love  suit  before  Venus;  and  in  Gower's  C.  A.3  a  company  of 
servants  of  love  ride  white  horses  and  are  clad  in  white  and  blue 
(the  latter  the  regular  color  of  constancy).  In  a  popular  chanson4 
"la  belle  au  jardin  d' amour"  is  in  white.  Moreover,  in  a  number 
of  other  cases,  to  be  mentioned  hereafter,5  white  is  associated  with 
green  in  connection  with  love  observances  of  various  kinds. 

These  love  observances  took  place  most  commonly  during  the 
month  of  May,  in  connection  with  more  general  celebrations  of 
the  return  of  spring,  with  which  also  white  was  sometimes  asso- 
ciated, though,  as  will  be  seen  shortly,  far  less  frequently  than 
green.  One  of  Gower's  French  ballades,6  for  instance,  contains 
mention  of  the  "blanche  banere"  of  May.  There  is  record  of  the 
custom,  in  Provence,  on  the  first  of  May,  of  choosing  "de  jolies 
petites  filles  qu'on  habille  de  blanc  ....  On  l'appelle  le  mayo."1 
Mannhardt8  also  mentions  the  wearing  of  white  costumes  at  May 
Day  celebrations  in  various  parts  of  Europe.  The  specific  exam- 
ples he  gives  are  doubtless  of  a  time  much  later  than  F.  L.,  but 
such  customs  are  generally  traditional  and  may  be  of  very  great 
antiquity. 

As  to  the  fundamental  interpretation  of  green  there  is  direct 
conflict :  it  means  constancy  and  it  means  inconstancy.  Deschamps, 
in  his  Lay  de  Franchise  and  in  two  ballades,  "L' Ascension  est  la 
fete  des  dames"  and  "Eloge  d'une  dame  du  nom  de  Marguerite,"9 
says  green  is  the  color  of  "ferinet£"  or  of  "seurte."  In  two  of 
these  cases,  however,  he  is  complimenting  a  woman  represented 
as  a  daisy,  and  naturally  has  to  give  a  complimentary  meaning  to 

1  Gardner,  Dante  Primer,  p.  13.  2Dits  et  contes,  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  1  ff. 

3  Book  IV,  11. 1305  ff.    See  further  discussion  of  the  story  of  Rosiphele,  p.  166  below. 

*  Romania,  Vol.  VII,  p.  61.  5  Pp.  152, 153  below. 

<>  Complete  Works,  ed.  Macaulay,  Vol.  I,  p.  367,  ballade  xxxvii. 

7  DeNore,  Coutumes,  mythes  et  traditions  des  jirovinces  de  France  (Paris,  1846) ;  quoted 
in  deGubernatis,  La  mythologie  des  plantes  (Paris,  1878-82),  Vol.  I,  p.  227.  See  also  Cham- 
bers' Book  of  Days,  Vol.  I,  p.  579. 

*Der  Baumkultus  der  Germanen  und  ihrer  Nachbarstamme  (Berlin,  1875),  p.  344. 

9  GEuvres,  Vol.  II,  pp.  203  ff.,  1.  35;  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  307,  379. 

146 


"The  Flower  and  the  Leaf"  27 

the  green  stalk.  In  another  ballade  he  writes  more  convention- 
ally of  blue  as  the  color  of  "loyaute."1  Yet  there  is  evidence 
that  his  idea  was  not  exceptional.  For  example,  in  a  Middle 
English  version  of  Le  Chasteau  d' Amour  are  the  following  lines: 

The  grene  colour  bi  the  ground  that  wil  so  wele  laste  (403) 
Is  the  treuthe  of  oure  ladye  that  ay  was  stedefast;2 

in  the  Castle  of  Perseverance  Truth  is  represented  as  wearing  a 
"sad-coloured  green;"3  and  in  Lydgate's  Edmund  and  Fremund* 
we  find  the  lines: 

The  wattry  greene  shewed  in  the  Reynbowe 

Off  chastite  disclosed  his  clennesse. 

Moreover,  Chaucer  has  Alceste,  the  type  of  faithfulness,  "clad  in 

real  habit  grene,"5  and  even  Diana's  statue  in  the  Knight's  Tale6 

clothed  "in  gaude  greene" — doubtless  because  she  was  a  huntress. 

The  foregoing  interpretation,  however,  is  exceptional,  and  in 

most  cases  can  be  accounted  for,  as  intimated,  by  special  reasons 

governing  each  particular  poem.    By  far  the  commoner  meaning  of 

green  was  inconstancy.    For  example,  Machaut  has  a  ballade  with 

the  refrain: 

Au  lieu  de  bleu  se  vestir  de  vert;7 

and  in  his  B6mede  de  Fortune*  "vers"  is  said  to  signify  "nou- 
velleteV'  Chaucer  makes  similar  use  of  the  color  in  the  Squire's 
Tale;9  and  Lydgate  in  the  following  lines  of  the  Falls  of  Princes . : 

Watchet-blewe  of  feyned  stedfastnes,  .... 
Meint  with  light  grene,  for  change  and  doublenes.10 

i  CEuvres,  Vol.  X,  p.  lix. 

2 Robert  Grosseteste's  Chasteau  d  'Amour  (Castel  of  Love),  ed.  Hupe ;  Anglia,  Vol.  XIV, 
pp.  415  ff. 

3  See  Schick's  note  on  1.  299  of  Lydgate's  T.  6. 

*In  Horstmann's  Altenglische  Legenden,  Neue  Folge  (Heilbronn,  1891),  pp.  376  ff. ;  part 
III,  11. 115, 116. 

5£.  G.  W.,  Prologue  B,  1.214.  Alceste,  it  should  be  remembered,  is  a  personification  of 
the  daisy,  and  the  green  habit  represents  the  green  stalk  of  the  flower.  Similarly  in  the 
Second  Nun's  Prologue  (C  T.,  G,  90),  "green  of  conscience"  is  to  be  explained  by  the  com- 
parison with  a  lily. 

6  C.  T.,  A,  1.  2079. 

"  OJuvres  choisies,  ed.  Tarbe,  pp.  55,  56.  This  poem  is  the  original  of  Chaucer's  Ballade 
of  Newe-Fangelnesse,  with  its  refrain, 

In  stede  of  blew,  thus  may  ye  were  al  grene.    (Oxford  Chaucer,  Vol.  I,  p.  409.) 

STarbe,  p.  84.  9  C.  T.,  F,  11.  646,  647. 

10  Quoted  by  Professor  Skeat  in  his  note  on  Chaucer's  Anelida  and  ArciteA.  330  (Oxford 
Chaucer,  Vol.  I,  p.  538) ;  and  by  Professor  Schick  in  the  note  referred  to  above,  n.  3. 

147 


28  George  L.  Marsh 

In  A.  G.,1  too,  Fortune's  gown 

was  of  gawdy  grene  chamelet 
Chaungeable  of  sondry  dyuerse  coloures 
To  the  condycyone  accordyng  of  hyr  shoures. 

The  use  of  green  as  an  unlucky  color  in  some  of  the  English 
and  Scottish  Popular  Ballads2  is  in  harmony  with  the  foregoing 
interpretation.  The  following  lines,  quoted  by  Child  from  Wil- 
liam Black's  Three  Feathers,  are  of  interest: 

Oh  green's  forsaken,3 

And  yellow's  forsworn, 
And  blue's  the  sweetest 

Color  that's  worn. 

A  third  meaning  of  green — not  inconsistent  with  inconstancy, 
however — is  given  in  the  following  passage  from  Watriquet  de 
Couvin's  Dit  des  .VIII.  Couleurs:* 

Car  couleurs  verde  senefie    (227) 
Maniere  cointe  et  envoisie: 
Affaitiez,  cortois  et  miguos 
Et  chantans  comme  uns  roussignos, 
Ne  ne  doit  fais  d'arrnes  douter, 
Que  qu'il  li  doie  au  cors  couster, 
Mais  qu'il  puist  sa  force  emploier 
Par  jouster  et  par  tornoier, 
Et  criera  ce  joli  cri: 
"  Verdure  au  riche  roy  joli ! " 

A  similar  interpretation  is  contained  in  the  following  lines  from 

Barclay : 

Mine  habite  blacke  accordeth  not  with  grene, 
Blacke  betokeneth  death  as  it  is  dayly  sene; 
The  grene  is  pleasour,  freshe  lust  and  iolite; 
These  two  in  nature  hath  great  diuersitie.6 

i  Ed.  Triggs  (E.  E.  T.  S.,  1895),  11.  320-22. 

2Ed.  Child,  Vol.  II,  pp.  181  ff.,  512.  It  should  be  added,  however,  that  in  the  great 
majority  of  cases  in  which  green  is  mentioned  in  the  ballads,  no  ill  luck  is  implied.  Green 
garments  are  very  common — more  common  than  any  other  kind.  Some  special  uses  of  them 
will  be  mentioned  below,  pp.  149-52.  In  numerous  other  instances  not  mentioned,  the  color 
seems  to  be  used  simply  because  it  is  bright  and  pretty. 

3 It  may  be  mentioned  that  in  Elizabethan  times  to  "give  a  woman  a  green  gown" 
mplied  loss  of  chastity.    See  the  New  English  Dictionary,  under  "  Green." 

*  Already  referred  to,  p.  144  above,  n.  4. 
Prologue  to  Egloges,  Spenser  Society  (1885),  p.  2. 

148 


"The  Flower  and  the  Leaf"  29 

This  passage  is,  of  course,  considerably  later  than  F.  L.;  but  a 
parallel  contrast  between  black  and  green  is  implied  by  Lydgate's 
representation  of  himself,  on  a  pilgrimage,  as 

In  a  cope  of  blacke,  and  not  of  grene.1 
In  the  ballads  there  is  frequent  mention  of  the  "gay  green,"2  and 
the  association  of  the  color  with  the  festivities  of  spring3  is  in 
harmony  with  this  interpretation. 

Another  use  of  green  is  as  the  color  of  hope,4  in  L'Amant 
Rendu  Cordelier  a  V Observance  cV Amours" — a  meaning  also 
given  (along  with  others)  in  a  passage  quoted  by  Schick  from 
Kindermann's  Teutscher  Wolredner.6  A  similar  idea  seems  to  be 
at  the  bottom  of  the  following  lines  from  La  Panthere  d' Amours, 
by  Nicole  de  Margival:7 

Amans  donques,  qui  l'esperance 

De  l'esmeraude  et  la  puissance 

Veult  avoir,  il  doit  estre  vers,    (1310) 

C'est  a  dire  qu'il  ait  devers 

Ceulz  qui  bien  aimment  bon  corage, 

Et  si  doit  metre  son  usage 

En  ceulz  ensuivir  et  congnoistre 

Qui  se  peinent  d'amors  acroistre; 

Car  les  vers  choses  tousjours  croissent, 

Et  les  seches  tousjors  descroissent; 

Et  cil  qui  en  verdeur  se  tiennent 

A  grace  si  tres  grant  en  viennent     (1320) 

Que  des  bons,  des  biaus  et  des  gens 

Sont  k>6,  et  de  toutes  gens. 
Such  are  the  somewhat  confusing  interpretations  of  green  that 
I  have  found — constancy,  inconstancy,  pleasure,  hope.8     In  a  far 

'Prologue  to  Thebes;  text  consulted,  Chalmers'  English  Poets,  Vol.  I,  p.  571. 

2  See  Child,  ballads  64  A,  stanza  19 ;  125,  stanzas  23,  35 ;  132,  stanzas  3,  4,  etc. 

3  See  pp.  150-53  below. 

*  White  also  appears  as  the  color  of  hope  in  various  Dutch  poems.  See  Seelmann's 
"Farbentracht,"  Jahrbuch  des  Vereins  fUr  niederdeutsche  Sprachforschung,  Vol.  XXVIII 
(1902),  pp.  118  ff. 

5  Attributed  to  Martial  d'Auvcrgne ;  ed.  Montaiglon,  Societe  des  Anciens  Textes  Fran- 
cois, 1881.  See  note  on  p.  Ill  of  this  edition.  The  poem  is  also  found  in  Les  Arrets  d  'Amours, 
ed.  Lenglet-Dufresnay  (Amsterdam,  1731). 

6  In  the  note  already  referred  to,  p.  147  above,  n.  3. 

i  Ed.  Todd,  Societe  des  Anciens  Textes  Francais,  1883. 

8  Professor  Brandl  (in  Paul's  Grundriss,  Vol.  II,  p.  663)  mentions  yet  another  meaning, 
in  Gawain  and  the  Green  Knight—  "die  grune  Farbe  des  Friedens."  This  poem,  however, 
seems  to  have  no  possible  relation  to  F.  L. 

149 


30  George  L.  Marsh 

greater  number  of  cases  no  specific  meaning  is  given,  but  the  color 
is  associated  with  the  light  and  frivolous  pleasures  of  springtime 
and  courtly  love.1  In  astrology  green  was  the  color  of  Venus,  and 
Venus  was  generally  connected,  as  in  the  Tannhauser  legend,  with 
the  baser  sort  of  love.  Naturally,  also,  green  costumes  were  worn 
at  the  festivities  of  May  Day,  in  celebration  of  the  renewal  of 
nature's  green.  The  following  list  will  indicate  how  thoroughly 
in  accord  with  tradition  were  the  green  costumes  of  the  company 
of  the  Flower: 

In  R.  R.,  Oiseuse  ("  Ydelnesse "),  who  conducts  the  lover  to  the  gar- 
den of  Deduit,  wears  a  dress  of  green;  see  1.  573  of  the  English  version 
attributed  to  Chaucer. 

The  passage  from  La  Panthere  d  'Amours,  quoted  on  p.  149  above, 
associates  the  emerald  and  green  with  love. 

A  company  of  famous  lovers  in  Froissart's  Paradys  d  'Amour  (see 
chap,  iii  below)  are  all  clad  in  green. 

In  Deschamps'  Lay  de  Franchise  (ref .  p.  143  above)  a  party  of  young 
men  cutting  foliage  in  observance  of  May  are  likewise  "vestus  de  vert." 
See  also  ballade  IV,  p.  129  above,  1.  35. 

A  ballade  of  Christine  de  Pisan  (CEuvres,  Vol.  I,  p.  217),  calling  on 
lovers  to  rise  and  be  joyful  on  May  Day,  contains  the  following  lines: 

Vestir  de  vert  pour  joye  parfurnir, 
A  feste  aler  se  dame  le  mandoit. 

A  lean  chevalier,  reciting  the  pains  and  troubles  of  lovers  in  Alain 
Chartier's  Debat  des  deux  Fortunes  d' Amours  {(Euvres,  ed.  DuChesne 
[Paris,  1617],  p.  570),  says  that  they  often  wear  "cueur  noircy  ....  soubz 
robbe  verte." 

In  the  note  already  mentioned,  on  p.  Ill  of  L'Amant  Rendu  Corde- 
lier a  V Observance  d' Amours,  the  following  lines  from  Charles  d'Or- 
leans  and  Bertrand  des  Marins  are  quoted: 

Le  verd  je  ne  veux  plus  porter,     [Charles  d'Orleans] 
Que  est  livre*e  aux  aruoureux. 

La  couleur  verde  est  demonstrant       [Bertrand  des  Marins 
Des  femmes  la  plaisante  face,  deMasan  in  itoim'er 

Leur  mine,  aussi  leur  beau  semblant,    des  Dames'] 
Dont  maint  estime  estre  en  leur  grace. 

In  the  Prologue  to  Les  Arrets  d' Amours,  by  Martial  d'Auvergne, 
"les  deesses,  ....  legistes,  et  clergesses  qui  sgavoient  le  decret  par 
cueur,"  are  all  clad  in  green.     This  singular  volume  of  burlesque  decrees 

1  The  signification  of  green  in  the  Dutch  poems  studied  by  Seelmann  (n.  4,  p.  149  above) 
is  "Anfang  de  Liebe." 

150 


"The  Flower  and  the  Leaf"  31 

contains  many  other  allusions  to  garments  and  decorations  of  green;  most 
of  them  without  significance,  except  as  they  show  the  great  popularity  of 
the  color  and  its  common  association  with  the  affairs  of  love. 

In  chanson  XLIX  (Chansons  du  XVme  siecle,  ed.  Paris);  green  is 
said  to  be  the  livery  of  lovers. 

Chaucer's  Alceste,  who,  as  we  have  noted  (p.  147  above),  is  clad  in 
green,  is  led  upon  the  scene  by  the  King  of  Love,  and  represents  in 
appearance  a  daisy,  the  flower  which  the  green-clad  followers  of  the 
Flower  particularly  worship.     See  L.  G.  W.,  text  B,  11.  213,  242,  303,  341. 

Isis,  in  A.  G.,  (11.  332-34),  wears  a  gown  "grene  as  any  gresse  in  the 
somertyde." 

Venus,  in  Henryson's  Testament  of  Cresseid  (1.  221;  Chaucerian  and 
Other  Pieces,  p.  334),  is  dressed  in  green  and  black. 

Malory  describes  a  "maying  of  Arthur's  knights,  all  clad  in  green." 

Kosiall  and  Lust,  in  C.  L.  (11. 816, 1059;  Chaucerian  and  Other  Pieces, 
pp.  431,  437),  are  clad  in  green. 

In  the  May  eclogue  of  Spenser's  Shepherd's  Calendar,  "love-lads 
....  girt  in  gawdy  greene"  are  mentioned;  and  Lechery  is  given  a 
green  gown  in  The  Faerie  Queene  (I,  iv,  25). 

In  Stubbes'  Anatomie  of  Abuses  (ed.  Furnivall,  New  Shakspere 
Society,  1877-79,  p.  147)  we  are  told  of  the  followers  of  the  Lord  of 
Misrule,  clad  in  "  liveries  of  greene,  yellow,  or  some  other  light  wanton 
color." 

Shakspere,  in  Love's  Labour's  Lost  (I,  ii,  90),  mentions  green  as  "  the 
colour  of  lovers." 

Green  also  was  frequently  associated  with  fairies  and  other 
supernatural  creatures.  In  the  ballad  of  Thomas  Rhymer,1  for 
instance,  the  queen  of  Elfland  is  attired  in  green.  "The  Wee 
Wee  Man"2  calls  up  a  vision  of  twenty-four  ladies  in  green,  who 
dance  "jimp  and  sma."  A  mermaiden  in  green  entices  Clerk 
Colvill  away  from  his  "gay  ladie."3  And — to  go  somewhat  afield 
into  folklore — Mannhardt4  writes  at  great  length  of  "  Waldgeister  " 
of  various  kinds  clad  in  green. 

Another  extremely  popular  mediseval  use  of  green  was  in 
connection  with  forestry  and  hunting.5  Robin  Hood  and  his 
men  regularly  wore  suits  of  green,  and  other  "merry  men,"  out- 

1  Child,  ballad  37,  Vol.  I,  pp.  323-26.  3  ibid.,  42,  Vol.  I,  pp.  387-89. 

2  Ibid.,  38,  Vol.  I,  pp.  330-33.  *  Der  Baumkultus,  pp.  Ill,  117,  etc. 

5  Explained  in  an  interesting  way  in  the  following  passage,  quoted  in  the  New  English 
Dictionary  (under  "Green")  from  Trevisa's  translation  of  Bartholemew  de  Glanville's  De 
Proprietatibus  Rerum:  "Hunters  clothe  themself  in  grene  for  the  beest  louyth  kyndely 
grene  colours." 

151 


32  George  L.  Marsh 

laws,  and  hunters  in  the  ballads  are  similarly  clad.1  Chaucer's 
yeoman,  too,  "was  clad  in  cote  and  hood  of  grene;"2  and  Emily, 
in  the  Knight's  Tale,3  wears  a  green  gown  on  the  May  morning 
when  she  goes  forth  with  Theseus  and  his  company  to  hunt. 
According  to  an  old  proverb, 

The  first  of  May 

Is  Kobin  Hood's  day; 

and  at  least  as  early  as  the  fifteenth  century  Robin  Hood  and  his 
men  were  associated  in  England  with  the  May  games.4  Thus, 
since  it  is  undue  love  of  hunting  and  hawking  and  playing  in 
meads  that  is  specifically  condemned  in  the  followers  of  the 
Flower,  their  green  costumes  may  possibly  be  accounted  for  with- 
out going  away  from  England. 

Thus  far  we  have  been  examining  cases  of  the  use  of  white  and 
green  separately,  where  a  symbolic  meaning  is  attached  to  the 
colors  or  implied  by  the  context.  Many  more  examples  might 
doubtless  be  found,0  as  mediaeval  poetry  is  full  of  details  about 
costumes,  and  the  colors  in  question  were  exceptionally  popular. 
But  it  seems  sufficient  to  conclude  with  a  few  important  instances 
of  the  use  of  the  two  colors  together. 

At  the  ceremonies  after  the  coronation  of  Charles  VI  of  France, 
in  1380,  "ceux  de  la  ville  de  Paris  allerent  au  devant  de  luy  bien 
deux  milles  personnes  vestus  tout  un,  c'est  a  sgavoir  de  robbes 
my-partis  de  vert  et  de  blanc.1'6  Even  though  in  this  narrative 
no  specific  significance  is  attached  to  the  colors,  the  circumstance 
is  of  interest.  Much  more  important,  however,  is  the  use  of  the 
colors  in  Christine  de  Pisan's  Due  des  Vrais  Amans,'  where  on 

1  See  Child,  "Robin  Hood  Ballads,"  passim,  Vol.  Ill;  also  ballads  73  D,  stanza  11;  IOTA, 
stanzas  25,  30,  76 ;  305  A,  stanzas  19,  32.  Of  course,  a  very  much  longer  list  could  be  made,  were 
it  necessary  to  be  exhaustive.    See,   for  instance,  Ipotnedon,  ed.  KOlbing,  1.  657. 

2  C.  T.,  A,  1.  103.  3  ibid.,  1. 1686. 

■4 See  the  accounts  of  May  games  in  Strutt's  Sport  and  Pastimes,  Book  IV.  chap,  iii, 
sees,  xv-xx;  Strutt's  romance,  Queenhoo-Hall,  sec.  i;  Hone's  Ecery-Day  Book,  Vol.  I,  pp. 
269  ff.;  Vol.  II.  pp.  284  ff . ;  Hone's  Table  Book,  pp.  271  ff.;  Hone's  Year  Book,  pp.  257  ff. ; 
Brand's  Popular  Antiquties;  Mannhardt's  Baumkultus,  pp.  160  ff. ;  Chambers'  Book  of 
Days,  Vol.  I,  pp.  571  ff. 

5  For  instance,  in  the  romances,  which  I  have  not  examined  with  this  matter  especially 
in  view. 

fi  Quoted  from  Jean  des  Ursins,  "  Histoire  de  Charles  VI,"  in  Memoirs  pour  servir  <>  Vhis- 
toire  de  la  France,  Vol.  II,  p.  312. 

7  CEuvres,  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  59  ff.  The  poem  will  be  analyzed  somewhat  in  detail  in  chap, 
iii,  below. 

152 


"The  Flower  and  the  Leaf"  33 

one  day  knights  clad  in  white  joust  before  ladies  in  white,  and  on 
the  next  day  both  knights  and  ladies  are  clad  in  green.  Here 
also  no  significance  is  attached  to  the  colors,  and  the  same  persons 
wear  the  different  costumes  on  different  days;  yet  there  is  enough 
similarity  in  the  attendant  circumstances — the  jousting ;  the  order 
in  which  the  colors  appear;  the  attention  to  details  about  armor, 
harness,  precious  stones,  gold  embroidery,  and  so  forth — to 
justify  a  strong  suspicion  that  the  author  of  F.  L.  knew  the 
French  woman's  poem.  Christine  de  Pisan  makes  a  good  deal  of 
account  of  the  "Ordre  de  la  Dame  Blanche  h  l'Escu  Verd,"  which 
was  formed  by  the  famous  Marechal  Boucicault  in  1399,1  for  the 
protection  of  women.  The  emblem  of  the  order  was  "une  targe 
d'or  esmailli^  de  verd,  h  tout  une  dame  blanche  dedans."  It 
seems  reasonable  to  believe  that  the  "dame  blanche"  represented 
the  purity  which  the  knights  of  the  order  were  to  protect;  what 
the  green  background  signified  is  not  so  clear. 

That  white  and  green  were  sometimes  associated  together  in 
connection  with  the  observances  of  May  is  shown  by  an  account, 
in  Hall's  Chronicle,2  of  a  "maying"  of  Henry  VIII,  in  which  the 
company  were  clad  in  green  on  one  occasion  and  in  white  on 
another.  In  Machyn's  Diary,3  too,  there  is  mention  of  a  white 
and  green  May  pole,  around  which  danced  a  company  of  men 
and  women  wearing  "baldrykes"  of  white  and  green. 

The  conclusion,  then,  as  to  colors,  is  that  the  use  of  white  and 
green  in  F.  L.  is  substantially  in  accordance  with  tradition. 
White  regularly  signifies  purity,  and  is  associated  with  martial 
prowess  and  joy;  the  wearers  of  white  in  our  poem  are  famous 
warriors,  pure  women,  and  steadfast  lovers.  Green  is  inconsist- 
ently interpreted;  but  in  actual  use  is  most  often  associated  with 
pleasures  of  the  lighter  sort  for  which  the  followers  of  the  Flower 
are  condemned. 

CHAPLETS  OF  LEAVES  AND  OF  FLOWERS 

The  wearing  of  chaplets,  whether  of  leaves  or  flowers,  was  a 
regular  feature  of  the  observance  of  May  Day  and  other  medi- 

JSee  Memoirs  pour  servir  d,  Vhistoire  de  la  France,  Vol.  II,  pp.  209,  255;  C.  de  Pisan's 
CEuvres,  Vol.  I,  pp.  208,  210,  220,  302,  303,  etc. 

21809  ed.,  pp.  515,  520;  quoted  by  Mannhardt,  p.  368. 
3  Ed.  Nichols  (Camden  Society,  1848),  p.  20. 

153 


34  George  L.  Marsh 

seval  outdoor  festivities  of  the  spring  and  summer.1  In  F.  L.  this 
practice  is  used  to  distinguish  the  parties  further  by  giving 
chaplets  of  leaves  to  the  company  of  the  Leaf;  of  flowers,  to  the 
company  of  the  Flower. 

Laurel  wreaths,  as  it  seems  hardly  necessary  to  say,  were 
frequently  used  from  very  early  times  as  tokens  of  honor. 
Apollo  was  often  represented  with  a  crown  of  laurel,  "comme 
dieu  qui  purine,  qui  illumine,  et  qui  triomphe."2  Chaucer 
dresents  Theseus 

With  laurer  crowned  as  a  conquerour.3 
Christine  de  Pisan  has  a  ballade  on  men  "digne  d'estre  de  lorier 
ouronneV  Lydgate  represents  St.  Margaret  as  crowned  with 
laurel,5  and  in  A.  G.,  1.  791,  Virtue  is  crowned  with  laurel.  Thus 
it  is  in  accordance  with  a  very  common  conventionality  that  in 
F.  L.  laurel  wreaths  are  given  to  the  Nine  Worthies,  and  those 
that  were  "hardy"  and  "wan  victorious  name."6 

Woodbine  is  worn  by  those  that 

never  were  (485) 

To  love  untrew  in  word,  ne  thought,  ne  dede, 
But  ay  stedfast. 
A  significance  like  this  is  attached  by  Lydgate  to  hawthorn;7 
and  both  Chaucer  and  the  author  of  F.  L.  mention  woodbine 
and  hawthorn  together.8  The  latter  especially  was  very  popular 
during  the  Middle  Ages,  and  generally  associated  with  the 
festivities  of  May.  Hawthorn  branches  were  used  in  "planting 
the  May,"  and  the  hawthorn  blossom  was  often  called  "the 
May."9  The  special  appropriateness  of  hawthorn  for  the 
adherents  of  the  Leaf  is  indicated  in  the  following  passages: 

i  The  examples  cited  of  the  different  kinds  of  chaplets  will  furnish  sufficient  evidence 
of  the  prevalence  of  the  custom.  Reference  may  be  made,  however,  to  R.  R.,  ed.  Michel, 
Vol.  I,  pp.  247,  248,  note;  and  to  Hinstorff's  dissertation  on  Kulturgeschichtliches  im  "Roman 
de  VEscoufle" undim  " Roman  de  la  Rose  ou  de  Guillaume  de  Dole"  (Darmstadt,  1896).  See 
also  the  authorities  cited  on  p.  152  above,  n.  4. 

2Gubernatis,  Mythologie  desplantes,  Vol.  II,  p.  193. 

3  C.  T.,  A,  1. 1027.  *  (Euvres,  Vol.  I,  p.  2. 

6"  Life  of  St.  Margarete,"  Horstmann's  Altenglische  Legenden,  Neue  Folge  (Heilbronn, 
1881),  pp.  446  ff,  1.42. 

e  LI.  240,  249,  479-81, 502-32.    '  T.  O.,  11. 503-16 ;  see  p.  138  above.    8  c.  T.,  A,  1. 1.508 ;  F.  L.,  1. 272. 

"See  Chesnel,  Dictionnaire  des  superstitions  (Paris  1856),  p.  101;  Mannhardt,  Der 
Baumkulttis,  pp.  343,  365;  Chambers,  Book  of  Days,  Vol.  I,  p.  571;  Schick's  notes  on  T.  G., 
pp.  99,  100,  136;  Holland,  Flore  Populaire,  Vol.  V  (1904),  pp.  157  ff. 

154 


"The  Flower  and  the  Leaf"  35 

L'aubepine,  la  fleiir  du  printemps,  <§tait  venSree  dans  nos  campagnes. 
On  en  faisait  un  embleme  de  puret<§,  et  on  lui  pretait  des  vertus  merveil- 
leuses;  on  en  portait  aussi  une  branche  comme  un  pr<§servatif  contre  le 
tonnerre.1 

Au  temps  de  la  chevalerie,  l'amant  qui  les  circonstances  condamnait 
a  subir  une  longue  attente  avant  de  voir  couronner  ses  voeux,  presentait 
a  la  dame  que  les  avait  fait  naitre  un  rameau  d'aubepine,  li6  d'un 
ruban  de  velours  incarnat,  ce  qui  signifiait  qu'il  vivait  de  l'esperance 
et  demeurait  fidele.2 

The  nightingale,  singer  for  the  Leaf,  is  frequently  associated 
with  the  hawthorn,  as  in  C.  N.,  where,  after  his  defense  of  true 
love  against  the  scoffing  cuckoo,  he  flies  into  a  hawthorn  bush.3 
Similarly  the  nightingale  sings  from  a  "thorn"  in  Lydgate's 
Night.  II,4  and  in  C.  L.  he  goes  to  matins  "within  a  temple 
shapen  hawthorn- wise."5 

Two  other  kinds  of  leaves  remain  for  chaplets — "okes  cereal," 
of  which  also  Emily's  crown  was  made  when  she  appeared  in 
Diana's  temple,6  and  agnus  castus,  which  was  proverbially 
believed  to  be  a  preservative  of  chastity.7 

Chaplets  of  flowers  are  much  more  frequently  mentioned  than 
chaplets  of  leaves,  and  were  associated  regularly  with  the  festivi- 
ties of  light  love.  Venus  and  Cupid  are  generally  represented  as 
crowned  with  roses.8  Oiseuse  in  E.  E.  likewise  wore  a  chaplet  of 
roses.9     Chaucer  gives  Priapus  garlands  of  flowers  in  P.  F.,  1.  259. 

iTarbe,  Romancero  de  Champagne  (Reims,  1863),  Vol.  II,  p.  50.  Sir  John  Maundeville 
also  testifies  to  the  potency  of  the  white  thorn  or  "albespine"  against  thunder  (Travels, 
chap.  ii). 

2Chesnel,  Dictionnaire  des  superstitions,  p.  101. 

3  Chaucerian  and  Other  Pieces,  pp.  347  ff.,  1.  287. 

iTwo  Nightingale  Poems,  ed.  Glauning  (E.  E.  T.  S.,  1900),  11.  10,  11,  61,  355,  356.  See 
Glauning's  note  on  1. 10. 

5  Chaucerian  and  Other  Pieces,  pp.  409  ff.,  1. 1354. 

«C.  T.,  A,  1.2290. 

'  See  Professor  Skeat's  notes  on  both  cereal  oak  and  agnus  castus,  on  F.  L.,  11. 160,  209. 
The  following  may  also  be  added  from  Gubernatis,  Mythologie  des  plantes,  Vol.  II,  p.  4 : 
"Dans  les  fetes  atheniennes  des  Thesmophores,  les  jeunes  filles  s'ornaient  des  fleurs  de 
1 '  agnus-castus  et  couchaient  sur  les  feuilles  de  cette  plante,  pour  garder  leur  purete  et  leur 
etat  de  vierges." 

8  See  Schick's  note  on  1.  505  of  Lydgate's  T.  G.  The  following  additions  may  be  made 
to  the  passages  there  quoted  :  Cupid  wears  a  garland  of  flowers  in  Fablel  (ref.  p.  162  below), 
p.  23;  in  R.  R„  1.  908,  Chaucerian  version ;  in  L.  G.  W.,  A,  1.  160;  B,  1.  228. 

9L.  566,  Chaucerian  veraion. 

155 


36  George  L.  Marsh 

The  following  passage  from  Robert  of  Brunne's  Handlyng  Synne 
(1303)  is  of  decided  interest: 

3yf  pou  euer  yn  felde,  eyper  in  toune, 

Dedyst  floure-gerland  or  coroune 

To  make  wommen  to  gadyr  pere, 

To  se  whych  pat  feyrer  were; 

Eys  ys  a3ens  pe  commaundement, 

And  Pe  halyday  for  pe  ys  shent; 

Hyt  ys  a  gaderyng  for  lecherye, 

And  ful  grete  pryde,  &  herte  hye.1 

Mention  of  chaplets  of  flowers  is  particularly  frequent  in  con- 
nection with  the  observances  of  May.  Thus  Colin  Muset2  says 
that  in  May,  when  the  nightingale  sings,  he  must  wear  a  chaplet 
of  flowers  "por  moi  d^duire  et  deporter;"  and  in  another  poem  he 
describes  companies  of  young  men  and  girls  who 

Chantent  et  font  grant  revel, 
Chascuns  a  chapel  de  flor. 

An  Italian  poem  of  the  thirteenth  century,  attributed  to  Dino 
Campagni,3  contains  the  following  lines: 

Ne  bei  mesi  d'  aprile  e  di  maio, 
La  gente  fa  di  fior  le  ghirlandette, 
Donzelle  e  cavalieri  d'  alto  paraio 
Cantan  d'amore  novelle  e  canzonette. 

Froissart  tells  in  his  Paradys  d?  Amours  of  meeting  and  loving 

Bel  Acueil, 

Qui  faisoit  chapeaus  de  flourettes.4 

She  makes  him  a  chaplet,  and  he  in  payment  recites  to  her  his 
ballade  of  the  marguerite.5  Deschamps  mentions  the  making  of 
chaplets  of  flowers,  in  connection  with  the  observance  of  May  Day, 
in  both  his  Lay  Amour  eux  and  his  Lay  de  Franchise.6  The 
ladies  whom  the  hero  of  C.  O.1  meets  are  making  garlands  of 
flowers.     The    poems  of  Christine   de   Pisan  contain   numerous 

i  E.  E.  T.  S.,  ed.  Furnivall,  Part  I  (1901),  11.  997  ff. 

2  Chansonniers  de  Champagne,  ed.  Tarbe  (Reims,  1850),  pp.  87,  90,  92. 

3  Quoted  by  Gubernatis,  Mythologie  des  plantes,  Vol.  I,  p.  228. 
*  Poesies,  ed.  Scheler,  Vol.  I,  pp.  1  ff.,  1.  1473. 

5  To  be  discussed  below,  p.  158. 
6To  bo  analyzed  in  chap,  iii  below. 

7  In  Latin  Poems  Commonly  Attributed  to  Walter  Mapes,  ed.  Wright  (Camden  Society, 
1841),  pp.  310  ff. 

156 


"The  Flower  and  the  Leaf"  37 

references  to  this  custom ; *  and — to  conclude  a  list  that  might  be 
longer — the  lovers  in  C.  L.  wear  garlands  of  flowers.2 

An  interesting  specific  contrast  of  leaf  and  flower  is  in  the 
following  passage  from  Gubernatis: 

Dans  le  Tyrol  italien,  les  jeunes  filles  portent  sur  leurs  cheveux  une 
petite  feuille  verte,  symbole  de  leur  virginity  .  .  .  .  ;  le  jour  de  leur 
mariage,  elles  perdent  le  droit  de  la  porter  et  la  remplacent  par  des 
fieurs  artificielles.3 

This  is  a  bit  of  undated  folklore ;  but  the  resemblance  to  part  of 
the  symbolism  of  leaf  and  flower  in  F.  L.  is  striking.  On  the 
whole,  it  should  be  very  clear  that  the  use  of  the  chaplets  in  our 
poem  is  in  accordance  with  well-defined  tradition. 

THE    CULT    OF    THE    DAISY 

Though  F.  L.  presents  no  such  description  of  the  daisy  as  may 
be  found  in  many  another  poem,  the  role  of  that  flower  is  very 
important,  since  it  is  the  object  worshiped  by  the  green-clad 
followers  of  the  Flower.  Such  choice  of  a  particular  blossom  is 
not  a  feature  of  any  other  poem  we  have  on  the  strife  of  the 
Flower  and  the  Leaf ;  but  it  is  not  at  all  surprising,  in  view  of 
the  widespread  cult  of  the  daisy  during  the  fourteenth  and 
fifteenth  centuries.4 

The  earliest  poem  of  importance  on  the  subject  is  Machaut's 
Dit  de  la  Marguerite. 5  This  is  a  complimentary  poem  and  bears 
no  specific  resemblance  to  F.  L.  The  poet  emphasizes  the  con- 
nection of  the  daisy  with  the  affairs  of  love,  saying  that  its 
scent  produces  love  and  its  root  cures  the  pains  of  love,6  and  he 
promises  to  serve  and  love  this  flower  only. 

Machaut's  pupil,  Deschamps,  has  a  ballade  complimentary  to 
"une  dame  du  nom  de  Marguerite,"7  and  virtually  repeats  the 

iSee  CEuvres,  Vol.  I,  pp.  218,  236,  239;  Vol.  II,  Dit  de  la  Pastoure,  11.  634,  670,  pp.  243,  244. 

2  Chaucerian  and  Other  Pieces,  pp.  409  if.,  11.  440,  450.  On  the  general  subject  of  flowers 
in  connection  with  the  observance  of  May  Day,  reference  may  be  made  to  Gubernatis, 
Mythologie  des  plantes,  Vol.  I,  p.  153 ;  Mannhardt,  Der  Baumkultus,  p.  344,  etc. ;  and  the 
authorities  cited  in  n.  4,  p.  152  above. 

3  Mythologie  des  plantes,  Vol.  I,  p.  143. 

*See  Professor  Lowes'  article  referred  to  above,  p.  124,  n.  1.  I  have  limited  my  dis- 
cussion to  matters  directly  bearing  on  F.  L. 

5  CEuvres  choisies,  ed.  Tarbe,  pp.  123-29.    6  See  Morley's  English  Writers,  Vol.  V,  pp.  133  ff. 

i  CEuvres,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  379;  already  referred  to  in  connection  with  the  significance  of  the 
colors  (p.  143  above). 

157 


38  George  L.  Mabsh 

contents  of  this  ballade  in  his  Lay  de  Franchise.1  In  both  these 
places  the  flower  is  spoken  of  as  "blanche  et  vermeille,"2  and  the 
lady  is  said  to  be  endowed  with  admirable  qualities  which  the 
different  parts  of  the  flower  symbolize.  In  the  latter  respect,  as 
already  noted,  there  is  inconsistency  with  the  allegory  of  our  poem, 
and  the  bit  of  descriptive  detail — "blanche  et  vermeille" — is 
practically  inevitable  in  writing  of  a  "Wee,  modest,  crimson- 
tipped  flow'r."  Hence  the  only  thing  especially  worthy  of  note 
about  Deschamps'  love  of  the  daisy  is  that  his  tribute  in  the  Lay 
de  Franchise  occurs  in  a  setting  somewhat  like  that  of  F.  L.3 

Deschamps  was  primarily  complimenting  a  lady  named  Mar- 
guerite; Froissart  the  chronicler,  though  not  guiltless  of  compli- 
mentary intentions,  seems  really  to  have  loved  the  flower  somewhat 
as  Chaucer  loved  it.  He  mentions  it  nearly  everywhere.  His 
best  known  poem  on  the  subject  is  the  ballade  in  Le  Paradys 
d'  Amours*  with  the  refrain: 

Sus  toutes  flours  j'aime  la  margherite. 
In  La  Prison  Amoureuse5  Froissart  used 

une  fleur  petite 
Que  nous  appellons  margherite, 

for  the  seal,  or  cachet,  of  the  lover  in  an  amorous  correspondence. 
He  imitated  Machaut,  also,  in  devoting  a  whole  poem  to  this 
favorite  flower — Le  Dittie'  de  la  Flour  de  la  Margherite,6  in 
which  the  praise  is  similar  to  that  by  Chaucer  in  the  Prologue  to 
L.  G.  W.  And  his  seventeenth  Past  our  elle1  concludes  each  stanza 
with  the  refrain: 

La  margherite  a  la  plus  belle  — 

that  is,  of  the  shepherdesses  celebrated  in  the  poem.  It  should 
perhaps  be  noted  especially  that  in  the  ballade  above  referred  to 
the  daisy  is  praised  for  its  enduring  freshness  (somewhat  in  con- 
trast with  its  role  in  F.  L.),  but  is  associated  with  springtime  and 
conventional  love. 

i  CEuvres,  Vol.  II,  pp.  203  ff.,  11.  30  ff.  sibid.,  Vol.  I,  pp.  241  ff.,  11.  898,  899. 

2  Compare  F.  L.,  333,  and  L.  G.  W„  A,  42.  *Ibid.,  Vol.  II,  pp.  20911. 

3  See  above,  p.  135 ;  below,  chap.  iii.  "'  Ibid.,  Vol.  II,  pp.  343  ff . 
iPoisies,  ed.  Scholer,  Vol.  I,  p.  49. 

158 


"The  Flower  and  the  Leaf"  39 

Whatever  cult  of  the  daisy  there  was  in  England  seems  to 
have  been  due  to  the  influence  of  Chaucer,  and  he  doubtless  was 
familiar  with  some  at  least  of  the  French  poems  just  mentioned.1 
His  tribute  in  the  Prologue  to  L.  G.  W.,2  in  close  connection  as  it  is 
with  his  reference  to  the  strife  of  the  Flower  and  the  Leaf,3  must 
have  been  in  the  mind  of  the  author  of  our  poem;  even  though 
he  seem  inconsistent  in  making  the  frivolous  company  of  the 
Flower  do  homage  to  the  daisy,  whereas  in  Chaucer  the  faithful 
Alcestis  is  transformed  into  that  flower.  It  hardly  need  be 
pointed  out  that  this  inconsistency  resembles  that  between  F.  L, 
and  Deschamps,  who  makes  the  green  of  the  stalk  of  the  daisy 
symbolize  constancy.  And  it  must  be  admitted  that,  in  spite  of 
the  association  of  this  flower  with  springtime  festivities  and  light 
love,  the  exalted  position  given  it  by  Chaucer  and  Deschamps  is 
more  fully  in  accord  with  the  common  mediaeval  belief  in  its 
healing  powers,  emphasized  in  Machaut's  Dit  de  la  Marguerite.* 

Various  references  to  Chaucer's  happy  bit  of  myth -making  in 
regard  to  Alcestis  have  been  pointed  out  by  Professors  Skeat  and 
Schick.5  In  one  of  these  I  find  striking  expression,  heretofore 
unnoticed,  of  a  prominent  thought  of  F.  L.  Lydgate's  Poem 
against  Self -Love6  contains  these  lines: 

Alcestis  flower,  with  white,  with  red  and  greene, 

Displaieth  hir  crown  geyn  Phebus  bemys  brihte, 
In  stormys  dreepithe,  conseyve  what  I  meene, 
Look  in  thy  myrour  and  deeme  noon  othir  wihte. 

The  italicized  words  describe  so  exactly  the  state  of  the  flower 
and  its  followers  after  the  storm  that  comes  upon  them7  as  to 
suggest  that  Lydgate  was  directly  alluding  to  our  poem. 

Other  notable  English  references  to  the  daisy  during  the 
fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries  are  as  follows:  In  C.  N.,  with  its 
discussion  of  love,  the  setting  is  a  land  of  daisies,  and  healing 
properties  are  attributed  to  the  flower.8      The  Compleynt  which 

i  See  the  articles  by  Kittredge  and  Lowes,  cited  above,  p.  124,  n.  1. 
2  Text  B,  11.  40-65.  3B,  1.  72. 

*  See  p.  157  above,  and  the  passage  from  Morley  there  referred  to. 

5  See  Schick's  note  on  11.  70-74  of  Lydgate's  T.  G.,  p.  74  of  his  edition,  and  the  references 
there  given. 

e  M.  P.,  ed.  Halliwell,  pp.  156  ff. ;  especially  p.  161. 

1 F.  L„  11.  368-71.  8  LI.  63,  243  ff. ;  ref.  p.  155  above. 

159 


40  Geobge  L.  Maesh 

Professor  Schick  prints  as  an  appendix  to  his  edition  of  T.  G.  pre- 
sents an  extended  tribute  to  the  daisy,1  in  which  most  of  the 
elements  found  in  the  French  poets  and  Chaucer  are  repeated. 
If  Lydgate  wrote  this  poem  (as  is  very  doubtful,  however)  it  is 
especially  interesting  on  account  of  his  very  frequent  reference  to 
the  flower.2     "A  Ballad"  beginning: 

In  the  season  of  Feuerere  whan  it  was  full  cold, 
printed    first    with    Stowe's   Chaucer  of   1561,   but   rejected   by 
Tyrwhitt  and  subsequent  editors,3  is  a  tribute  to  the  daisy,  which 
may  allude  to  the  worship  of  this  flower  by  the  Order  of  the 
Flower.     Lovers  are  addressed,  and  told  that  they 

Owe  for  to  worship  the  lusty  floures  alway, 
And  in  especiall  one  is  called  see4  of  the  day, 
The  daisee,  a  floure  white  and  rede, 
And  in  French  called  La  bele  Margarete. 

In  two  poems  of  some  importance  later  than  F.  L.  daisies  form 
part  of  the  setting:  in  A.  L.,  11.  57  ff.,5  and  in  C.  L.,  11.  101  ff. 

The  refrain  purporting  to  be  quoted  in  F.  L.  from  some  French 
original — "Si  douce  est  la  margarete"6 — I  have  not  yet  found 
elsewhere.  The  fact  that  the  spelling  "margarete,"  to  rime  with 
"swete,"  is  not  used  in  French — so  far  as  I  can  learn — suggests 
the  possibility  that  the  line  may  have  been  composed  by  the 
English  poet  to  suit  the  convenience  of  the  rime. 

On  the  whole,  the  use  of  the  daisy  in  connection  with  May 
Day  festivities  is  more  or  less  conventional,  but  was  probably 
directly  suggested  by  Chaucer,  with  very  likely  a  reference  to 
Machaut,  Deschanips,  or  Froissart  for  the  lighter  signification 
attached  to  the  flower  in  F.  L.  It  also  seems  probable  that 
Lydgate  knew  our  poem  and  directly  alludes  to  it. 

THE    NIGHTINGALE 

The  nightingale  in  F.  L.  flies  to  Diana,  the  lady  of  the  Leaf; 
the  goldfinch,  to  Flora,  the  lady  of  the  Flower.  The  former  rep- 
resents the  more  serious  side  of  man's  nature,  shown  in  affairs  of 

i  Ll.  394  ff.  2  See  Schick's  note,  p.  74. 

3  See  Skeat :  Chaucerian  and  Other  Pieces,  p.  xiii.  Most  easily  accessible  in  Chalmers' 
English  Poets,  Vol.  I,  p.  562. 

<  Apparently  an  error  for  "oe." 

5  Chaucerian  and  Other  Pieces,  pp.  380  ff .  ^F.  L.,  1.  350. 

160 


"The  Flower  and  the  Leaf"  41 

love  by  steadfastness;  the  latter,  the  more  frivolous  side,  with  a 
suggestion  of  inconstancy  in  love.  Here  the  conformity  with  lit- 
erary tradition  is  not  so  strict  as  in  relation  to  most  of  the  other 
matters  discussed  in  this  chapter. 

The  nightingale,  with  other  birds,  was  an  element  of  the  con- 
ventional springtime  setting,1  and  as  such  became  inevitably  asso- 
ciated with  the  festivities  of  love,  whether  serious  and  steadfast, 
or  the  lighter  love  with  which  we  have  found  green  garments  and 
garlands  of  flowers  associated.  The  general  popularity  of  the 
nightingale  in  mediaeval  poetry  (or,  for  that  matter,  in  the  poetry 
of  all  times  and  all  nations  where  the  bird  is  found)  is  too  well 
known  to  require  comment.2  A  very  large  number,  perhaps  even 
a  majority,  of  all  the  poems  I  have  read  which  present  the  spring- 
time setting  give  the  nightingale  a  place  of  prominence — or  the 
place  of  most  prominence — among  the  birds  that  rejoice  the 
poet's  heart,  or  cheer  the  lover  and  remind  him  of  his  mistress.3 

Along  with  this  general  association  with  love,  however,  there 
is  a  tendency  to  exalt  the  character  of  the  nightingale,  to  associ- 
ate her4  with  the  better  sort  of  love — with  inspiration  to  brave 
deeds  and  even  with  religion — and  thus  make  it  more  appropriate 
that  she  should  be  the  singer  for  the  brave  and  steadfast  company 
of  the  Leaf.  Giving  the  nightingale  a  serious  character  is  prob- 
ably due,  in  part  at  least,  to  the  bird's  association  with  the  clas- 
sical story  of  Philomela,  and  to  the  mediaeval  superstition  that  she 

1  To  be  discussed  in  chap,  iii  below. 

2  See  Uhland,  Abhandlung  iiber  die  deutschen  Volkslieder,  passim. 

3  On  the  association  of  the  nightingale  with  the  affairs  of  love  see  Neilson,  Harvard 
Studies,  Vol.  VI,  pp.  217  ff.  The  following  additions  may  be  made  to  the  examples  there  re- 
ferred to:  The  nightingale  cries  on  the  green  leaf  for  love  (Mahn,  Gedichte  der  Trouba- 
dours, Vol.  I,  p.  173).  The  nightingale  is  sent  with  a  message  of  love  to  the  "jardin 
d'amour"  (Tarbe's  Romancero  de  Champagne,  Vol.  II,  p.  159).  On  the  nightingale  as  a 
messenger  see  also  Appel,  Provenzalische  Chrestomathie,  2d  ed.,  p.  97  ;  Romania,  Vol.  Ill,  pp. 
97,  98;  Vol.  VII,  pp.  55,  57;  Chansons  du  XVme  siecle,  Nos.  lxxvii,  civ,  cxxxix,  etc.;  Rollaud, 
Faune  populaire  de  la  France  (Paris,  1879),  Vol.  II,  pp.  275  ff.  Christine  de  Pisan,  in  her 
Dit  de  Poissy  {CEuvres,  Vol.  II,  pp.  164,  165),  describes  the  singing  of  nightingales  agains 
"le  faulz  jaloux."  In  Chaucer's  T.  C.  (II,  11.  918-24)  a  nightingale  sings  a  love  song  that 
lulls  Criseyde  to  sleep.    In  Lydgate's  B.  K.  (Chaucerian  and  Other  Pieces,  pp.  245  ff.) — 

"  the  nightingale  (47) 

With  so  gret  mighte  her  voys  gan  out-wreste 
Right  as  her  herte  for  love  wolde  breste." 

Cf.  this  with  F.  L.,  11.  99-102,  447-49. 

4 Though  it  is  in  fact  the  male  nightingale  that  sings,  the  mediaeval  poets  generally 
thought  otherwise. 

161 


42  George  L.  Marsh 

sang  with  her  heart  impaled  upon  a  thorn.1  The  following  exam- 
ples will  illustrate  the  tendency: 

The  burden  of  the  first  part  of  Fablel  (ed.  Jubinal,  Paris,  1834)  is  the 
nightingale's  complaint  of  the  degeneracy  of  love. 

In  Venus  (ed.  Forster,  Bonn,  1880)  the  nightingale  writes  a  charter 
containing  a  decree  of  love,  in  which  loyal  love  is  commanded. 

Uhland  cites  examples  of  the  inspiration  of  warriors  by  the  nightin- 
gale's song  (Abhandlung,  ed.  Fischer,  p.  87). 

In  Froissart's  Loenge  de  May  (Poesies,  ed.  Scheler,  Vol.  II,  pp. 
194  ff.)  the  song  of  the  nightingale  inspires  the  lover  to  ardent  praise  of 
his  mistress  and  resolutions  of  loyalty  to  her. 

In  C.  O.  and  many  of  the  Chansons  (e.  g.,  cvi,  cix)  the  nightingale 
sings  to  gladden  the  hearts  of  those  in  pain  for  love.2 

The  part  of  the  bird  is  very  prominent  in  the  Chansons.  She  "praises 
true  lovers  in  her  pretty  song  "  (lxvii).  She  is  the  messenger  of  a  neglected 
mistress  to  remind  her  lover  of  his  duty  (lxxii,  cxxiii).3  She  is  asked  for 
advice  in  a  love  affair  (cxvii). 

The  nightingale  in  C.  N.  speaks  in  defense  of  true  love  against  the 
scoffing  cuckoo  (see  p.  155  above,  and  p.  163  below). 

Lydgate's  Two  Nightingale  Poems  are  mainly  religious  allegories, 
in  which  the  nightingale  represents  Christ;  but  in  II,  11.  16,  17,  the  poet 
says  he  "  understood  that  she  was  asking  Venus  for  vengeance  on  false 
lovers."     In  1.  68  she  praises  pure  love. 

In  the  Devotions  of  the  Fowls,  printed  by  Halliwell  with  Lydgate's 
M.  P.  (pp.  78  ff.),  but  of  doubtful  authenticity,  the  nightingale  sings  of 
Christ's  resurrection. 

In  The  Thrush  and  the  Nightingale  (Hazlitt's  Popular  Poetry,  Vol. 

I,  pp.  50  ff.;  and  Reliquice  Antiquce,  Vol.  I,  p.  241)  the  nightingale  de- 
fends women  against  the  attacks  of  the  thrush,  and  is  admitted  by  the 
latter  to  win  the  victory. 

In  the  Buke  of  the  Hoivlat  (Scottish  Alliterative  Poems,  ed.  Amours; 
S.  T.  S.,  1897)  nightingales  (with  other  birds)  sing  a  hymn  to  the  virgin 
(11.  716  ff.). 

Dunbar  has  the  nightingale  defend  the  thesis  that  "  All  luve  is  lost 
bot  vpon  God  allone"  (Poems,  S.  T.  S.,  Vol.  II,  pp.  174  ff.).4 

So  far  as  a  relation  of  any  of  the  above  poems  with  F.  L.  is 
concerned,  the  function  of  the  nightingale  is  most  important  in 

i  See  Chambers,  Book  of  Days,  Vol.  I,  p.  515;  Schick's  note  on  Kyd's  Spanish  Tragedy, 

II,  ii,  50. 

2  She  does  not  always  rejoice  the  lover,  however;  see  cxx,  cxxi. 

3  See  other  examples  of  use  of  the  nightingale  as  a  messenger,  n.  3,  p.  161  above. 

4  The  role  of  the  bird  in  the  Oivl  and  the  Nightingale  is  not  exalted,  but  this  poem  is 
considerably  earlier  than  any  but  a  very  few  of  those  here  considered,  and  seems  to  have 
little,  if  any,  connection  with  any  of  them. 

162 


"The  Flower  and  the  Leaf"  43 

C.  N.  This  bird's  defense  there  is  primarily  of  love  and  love 
service  in  general,  but  the  emphasis  is  distinctly  on  true  service, 
such  as  the  lovers  among  the  adherents  of  the  Leaf  would  render. 

THE    GOLDFINCH 

The  goldfinch  is  not  nearly  so  often  mentioned  as  the  night- 
ingale, but  when  he  receives  a  character  it  is  consistent  with  that 
given  him  in  F.  L.  Thus  the  "prentis"  in  Chaucer's  Cook's  Tale1 
is  described  as  "gaillard  ....  as  goldfinch  in  the  shawe."  In 
the  pseudo-Chaucerian  Par  doner  e  and  Tapstere  I  find  the  ex- 
pression "as  glad  as  any  goldfynch." 2  And  in  C.  L.  the  "goldfinch 
fresh  and  gay"  sings  a  psalm  to  the  effect  that  "the  god  of  Love 
hath  erth  in  governaunce."3  Professor  Skeat's  suggestion  that 
the  goldfinch  in  F.  L.  is  like  the  cuckoo  in  C.  N.  in  representing 
faithless  love*  is  based  upon  an  entirely  unjustifiable  interpreta- 
tion of  the  latter  poem.  The  cuckoo  scoffs  at  love  altogether  and 
refuses  ever  "in  loves  yok  to  drawe."5  He  argues  that  lovers  are 
the  worst  off  of  all  people  on  earth,6  because  all  sorts  of  evils  come 
from  love.7  The  cuckoo  would  agree  with  the  chaste  members  of 
the  company  of  the  Leaf  rather  than  with  the  gay  adherents  of 
the  Flower. 

THE  LAUREL  AND  MEDLAR  TREES 

Whatever  significance  may  be  attached  to  the  trees  in  which 
the  birds  sing  in  F.  L.  has  been  partly  indicated  above  (p.  154), 
so  far  as  the  laurel  is  concerned.  The  laurel  has  leaves  that  last,8 
and  has  been  associated  for  centuries  with  noble  deeds.  In  classi- 
cal mythology  Daphne  was  changed  to  a  laurel  to  preserve  her 
virginity.  The  tree  was  sacred  among  the  Greeks  and  Komans,9 
and  in  mediaeval  times  was  credited  with  power  to  protect  against 

i  C.  T.,  A,  1.  4367.  2  Chalmers'  English  Poets,  Vol.  I,  p.  638.  3  L.  1371. 

*  Note  at  bottom  of  p.  530,  Chaucerian  Pieces.        &L.  140.         6  LI.  141-44.         'LI.  171-75. 

8  As  noted  by  Chaucer  in  P.  F„  11. 173, 182,  and  by  Lydgate  in  C.  B.  (M.  P.,  p.  180).  The 
latter  passage  deserves  quotation  because  of  the  mention  of  Flora,  queen  of  the  Flower  in 

our  poem : 

"And  the  laurealle  of  nature  is  ay  grene, 
Of  flowres  also  Flora  goddes  and  quene." 

Further  evidences  of  the  popularity  of  the  laurel  are  given  in  Glauning's  note  on  Night. 
I, 1.  63. 

9  On  the  laurel  in  general  see  Hehn,  Kulturpfianzen  u.  Hausthiere,  7th  ed.  (Berlin,  1902), 
pp.  220  ff. 

163 


44  George  L.  Marsh 

thunder,1  such  as  the  hawthorn  also  was  thought  to  have.  The 
bird  sings  from  a  laurel  in  Lydgate's  C.  B.,2  and  the  nightingale 
from  a  laurel  in  Night.  I,  1.  63. 

The  medlar  tree,  on  the  other  hand,  though  not  very  frequently 
mentioned  in  mediaeval  poetry,  is  plainly  associated  with  hastiness 
and  decay,  or  over-sudden  ripeness,  as  in  Chaucer's  Reeve's  Pro- 
logue.3 Shakspere  refers  to  the  same  characteristic  in  language 
very  similar  to  that  of  Chaucer,4  besides  giving  the  name  "rotten 
medlar"  to  Mistress  Overdone,5  and  implying  bad  things  of  the 
medlar  in  Borneo  and  Juliet.*  This  tree  is  deciduous;  its  blos- 
soms last  but  a  short  time,  and  its  fruit  ripens  and  rots  quickly; 
so  that  a  certain  fitness  is  manifest  in  connecting  it  with  the  idle, 
faithless,  luckless  followers  of  the  Flower. 

THE    DANCING    AND    JOUSTING 

A  few  points  remain  as  to  the  action  of  the  allegory.  The 
singing  and  dancing  of  both  companies  are  without  special  signifi- 
cance. So  also,  probably,  is  the  jousting  among  themselves  by 
the  knights  of  the  Leaf.  Singing  and  dancing  always  accom- 
panied the  observance  of  May  Day,  and  jousting  was  a  common 
feature  of  nearly  every  sort  of  celebration.  The  details  of  the 
jousting  in  F.  L.  resemble  in  a  general  way  familiar  passages  in 
the  Knight's  Tale  and  in  Lydgate's  imitation  of  the  latter,  The 
Story  of  Thebes.1  Two  French  accounts  of  jousts  are  also  worth 
mention:  that  in  Christine  de  Pisan's  Due  des  Vrais  Amans, 
because  of  the  use  of  green  and  white  costumes;8  and  that  in  Des- 
champs'  Lay  de  Franchise?  because  the  setting  there  and  portions 
of  the  action  somewhat  resemble  those  of  F.  L. 

THE    STORM 

The  storm  that  was  so  uncomfortable  for  the  followers  of  the 
Flower  seems  significant  only  as  to  its  result.  In  its  combination 
of  wind   and  hail   and  rain   it  bears  some   resemblance   to   the 

1  See  Chesnel,  Dictionnaire  des  superstitions,  p.  539;  Hone's  Year  Book,  p.  776. 

2  M.  P.,  p.  181.  3  C.  T.,  A.  11.  3871-73. 

*  A.  Y.L.I.,  III,  ii,  125-28.  »  M .  M.,  IV,  iii,  184.  6 II,  i,  35,  36. 

7  C.  T.,  A,  11.  2599  ff . ;  Thebes,  in  Chalmers'  English  Poets,  Vol.  I,  pp.  581,  etc. 
s  See  p.  152, 153  above.  9Ref.  p.  143  above. 

164 


"The  Flower  and  the  Leaf"  45 

miraculous  storm  in  Chrestian  de  Troyes'  Yvain;1  but  the  resem- 
blance is  not  strong  enough  to  justify  any  assumption  of  relation- 
ship. The  most  striking  comments  on  a  storm,  so  far  as  possible 
relations  with  F.  L.  are  concerned,  are  in  Lydgate's  Testament,2 
as  follows: 

Lych  as  in  Ver  men  gretly  them  delite 

To  beholde  the  bewt6  sovereyne 

Of  thes  blosmys,  som  blew,  rede,  and  white, 

To  whos  fresshnesse  no  colour  may  atteyne, 

But  than  unwarly  comyth  a  wynd  sodeyne, 

For  no  favour  list  nat  for  to  spare 

Fresshnesse  of  braunchys,  for  to  make  hem  bare. 

Whan  Ver  is  fresshest  of  blosmys  and  of  flourys, 
An  unwar  storm  his  fresshnesse  may  apayre. 

RELATION    OF    F.    L.  WITH    THE    LAY  DU   TROT 

The  bedraggled  condition  of  the  adherents  of  the  Flower  after 
the  storm  is  worthy  of  note  chiefly  because  it  has  been  compared 
with  the  condition  of  a  company  of  women  in  the  Old  French 
Lay  du  Trot.  This  comparison  was  first  made  by  Sandras,3  and 
has  been  repeated  by  others.4 

Substantially  the  same  story  appears  in  several  forms,  of  which 
the  Breton  Lay  du  Trot  is  probably  the  earliest.5  In  this  poem 
Lorois,  a  knight  of  Arthur's  court,  sees  passing  through  the  midst 
of  a  forest  two  companies  of  ladies.  The  ladies  of  one  company 
ride  on  white  palfreys,  are  splendidly  arrayed,  crowned  with  roses, 
and  accompanied  by  amis,  all  because  of  their  graciousness  in 
matters  of  love.  The  ladies  of  the  other  company  are  mounted 
on  wretched  nags,  miserably  dressed,  and  in  torment  because  they 
have  cruelly  refused  to  love. 

In  the  Latin  work  of  Andreas  Capellanus,  De  Amore,6  there 
are  three  companies  of  women  led  by  the  God  of  Love.     Those  in 

lEd.  W.  Foerster  (Halle,  1887),  11.  397-407,  432-50. 

2ilf.  P.,  ed.  Halliwell,  pp.  245,  246.  z  Etude  sur  Chaucer,  pp.  104, 105. 

*  Notably  by  Morley,  English  Writers,  Vol.  V. 

5 Lai  d'Iguames,  ed.  Moumerque  and  Michel  (Paris,  1832).  I  have  not  had  access  to  this 
edition,  and  am  therefore  indebted  to  Sandras,  and  to  notes  kindly  lent  me  by  Professor  W. 
H.  Schofield,  of  Harvard,  for  my  brief  analysis. 

(■Andreae  Capellani  Regii  Francorum  de  Amore,  ed.  Trojel  (Copenhagen,  1892).  This 
work  is  very  important  in  relation  to  mediaeval  imitation  of  Ovid,  R.  R.,  the  Court  of  Love 
poems,  etc.,  and  has  therefore  been  analyzed  at  length  by  Neilson,  Mott,  Langlois,  and  others. 

165 


46  George  L.  Marsh 

the  first  company  are  gorgeously  arrayed,  well  mounted,  and 
attended  each  by  three  knights.  They  are  women  who,  while 
alive,  wisely  bestowed  their  love.  The  second  troop  are  in  great 
discomfort  because  of  the  number  who  wish  to  wait  on  them; 
they  are  women  of  loose  virtue.  The  women  of  the  third  troop 
are  like  those  of  the  second  in  the  Lay  du  Trot.  One  of  their 
number  explains  the  significance  of  all  three  companies.  The 
whole  vision  is  described  by  a  knight  to  a  lady  whom  he  wishes 
to  frighten  out  of  her  coldness. 

Gower's  tale  of  Rosiphele,  in  the  fourth  book  of  the  Confessio 
Amantis,1  is  in  essentials  only  slightly  different.     The  heroine 

hadde  o  defalte  of  Slowthe 
Towardes  love, 

and  could  not  be  prevailed  upon  to  think  of  matrimony.  While 
walking  in  a  park  before  sunrise  one  day  in  May,  she  saw  a  com- 
pany of  ladies  richly  clad  in  white  and  blue,  and  mounted  on 
great  white  horses  well  caparisoned.  They  were  followed  by  a 
woman  with  torn  attire,  who  rode  alone  on  a  very  sorry  looking 
horse  and  carried  all  the  halters  for  the  others.  This  woman, 
when  asked,  explained  that  the  ladies  whom  she  attended  were 
"servantz  to  love"  (1376),  and  that  she  was  but  their  "horse 
knave"  (1399)  because  she  "liste  noght  to  love  obeie"  (1389).2 

On  the  whole,  it  is  difficult  to  see  how  these  stories  can  have 
been  thought  very  similar  to  F.  L.  Even  the  miserable  women 
are  miserable  chiefly  because  of  their  lack  of  attendants  and  the 
condition  of  their  horses,  and  their  plight  is  not  due  to  any  cause 
even  remotely  resembling  the  storm  in  our  poem.  In  Gower's 
version,  indeed,  the  woman  is 

Fair  ....  of  visage,  (1361) 

Freyssh,  lusti,  yong  and  of  tendre  age; 

a  very  different  person  from  one  who  has  just  been  burned  by  sun 
and  drenched  by  rain  and  bruised  by  hail.     The  allegory,  too,  is 

i  LI.  1245  ff. 

2 In  purpose  Boccaccio's  tale  of  Anastasio  (Decamerone,  V,  8)  is  similar  to  these;  but 
the  details  are  different,  as  the  cavalcade  disappears,  and  we  have  instead  a  single  lady 
suffering  great  tortures  after  death  for  her  hard-heartedness.  On  this  whole  matter  of  the 
'•  purgatory  of  cruel  beauties,"  see  an  article  by  Professor  Neilson  in  Romania,  Vol.  XXIX, 
pp.  85  ff. 

166 


"The  Flower  and  the  Leaf"  47 

in  most  respects  different;  for  the  persons  in  F.  L.  that  corre- 
spond most  nearly  in  character  to  the  unfortunate  women  in  these 
stories  are,  not  any  of  the  adherents  of  the  Flower,  but  the 
strictly  chaste  members  of  the  company  of  the  Leaf  (F.  L.,  477). 
The  only  resemblance  in  the  allegory  is  in  the  fact  that  the 
adherents  of  the  Flower  are  condemned  for  idleness,  and  Gower's 
serving  woman  is  being  punished  for  sloth  (or  idleness)  in  love. 
This  seems  to  be  a  superficial  resemblance,  not  in  harmony  with 
the  spirit  of  our  poem.  Thus  the  real  similarities  are  few  and 
nearly  all  general;  namely:  the  fact  that  there  are  contrasted 
companies,  one  of  which  is  in  sorry  plight  of  some  kind  and  for 
some  reason  (for  the  kind  and  the  reason  are  not  similar) ;  the  fact 
that  in  Gower  the  fortunate  company  are  clad  in  white  and  blue, 
in  F.  L.  in  white;  and  the  fact  that  a  member  of  one  of  the 
companies  explains  who  all  the  people  are  and  what  their  action 
means.1  It  is  probable  that  the  author  of  our  poem  knew  the  story 
in  Gower,  but  there  is  no  sufficient  reason  for  assuming  a  knowledge 
of  the  Lay  du  Trot  or  Andreas  Capellanus. 

George  L.  Marsh 

University  op  Chicago 

i  The  interpreter  is  common  to  all  allegories;  see  chap,  iii,  below,  passim,  and  Neilson, 
Harvard  Studies,  Vol.  VI,  pp.  213  ff.  The  significance  of  the  colors  has  been  discussed 
on  pp.  143-46  above. 


167 


SOUKCES  AND  ANALOGUES  OF  "THE  FLOWER  AND 

THE  LEAF."     PART  II1 
CHAPTER  III.    THE  GENERAL  SETTING  AND   MACHINERY 

Besides  the  central  allegory  and  its  symbolic  accessories,  the 
general  setting  and  machinery  of  F.  L.2  deserve  consideration. 
Most  of  the  elements  of  the  setting,  making  up  the  whole  frame- 
work of  the  poem,  are  conventional.  Yet  even  those  that  are 
most  conventional  require  some  attention,  because  many  of  them 
have  been  cited  as  evidences  of  indebtedness  of  the  author  of 
F.  L.  to  particular  poems. 

THE  ASTRONOMICAL  REFERENCE 

The  first  point  to  be  noted  is  the  fixing  of  the  time  of  the 
poem  by  reference  to  the  sun's  position  in  the  zodiac: 

When  that  Phebus  his  chaire  of  gold  so  hy    (1) 
Had  whirled  up  the  sterry  sky  aloft, 
And  in  the  Bole  was  entred  certainly. 
This  passage  calls  to  mind  at  once  a  similar  reference  near  the 
beginning  of  the  prologue  to  C.  T.,  in  which  Chaucer  may  have 
been  imitating  either  his  Italian  models  or  Boethius  and  earlier 
Latin  writers.      Whatever  the  source  for  Chaucer,  the  French 
poets  do  not  seem  to  have  cared  for  this  device,  as  I  do  not  find 
it  in  any  French  poem  otherwise  resembling  F.  L.     Chaucer, 
however,  used  it  a  great  deal,  as  the  following  passages  show: 

In  the  Knight's  Tale,  on  the  May  morning  when  Arcite  is  to 
"doon  his  observaunce," 

fyry  Phebus  ryseth  up  so  brighte, 
That  al  the  orient  laugheth  of  the  lighte.3 

i  For  valuable  suggestions  and  assistance,  in  ways  too  numerous  to  mention,  I  should 
acknowledge  indebtedness  to  Professor  W.  E.  Mead,  of  Wesleyan  University  ;  Professor  W. 
H.  Schofield,of  Harvard  University;  and  the  following  members  of  the  faculties  of  the 
University  of  Chicago:  Professors  Karl  Pietsch,  T.  A.  Jenkins,  Philip  S.  Allen,  John  M. 
Manly,  F.  I.  Carpenter,  A.  H.  Tolman,  and  Dr.  Eleanor  P.  Hammond.  My  obligation  to 
Professor  Manly  is  particularly  great,  for  he  suggested  the  subject,  pointed  out  much  of  the 
material,  and  assisted  with  comment  and  criticism  from  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  ray 
investigation. 

2  For  a  list  of  abbreviations  used,  see  Part  I  of  this  study,  Modern  Philology,  Vol.  IV, 

p.  122,  n.  2. 

3  C.  T„  A,  11. 1493,  1494. 

2g]i  1  [Modeen  Philology,  October,  1906 


2  George  L.  Marsh 

In  the  Merchant's  Tale, 

Phebus  of  gold  his  stremes  doun  hath  sent, 
To  gladen  every  flour  with  his  warmnesse.1 

In  the  Franklin's  Tale,  "Phebus" 

Shoon  as  the  burued  gold  with  stremes  brighte.2 
In  T.  C.  we  have  the  same  time  as  that  of  F.  L.  indicated  in  the 

same  way: 

Whan  Phebus  doth  his  brighte  bemes  sprede 
Right  in  the  whyte  Bole.3 
And  at  the  very  end  of  the  fragmentary  Squire's  Tale  is  precisely 
the  figure  used  in  F.  L.  : 

Appollo  whirleth  up  his  char  so  hye.4 
Lydgate  also  makes  striking  use  of  the  astronomical  reference. 
In  his  B.  K.,h  which  bears  many  other  resemblances  to  F.  L.,  all 
the  essential  elements  of  our  first  three  lines  are  combined: 
"Phebus"  and  his  "chaire  of  gold,"  his  rapid  movement,  and  his 
position  in  the  "Bole"  on  May  Day. 

In  May,  whan  Flora,  the  fresshe  lusty  quene,     (1) 
The  soile  hath  clad  in  grene,  rede,  and  whyte, 
And  Phebus  gan  to  shede  his  stremes  shene 
Amid  the  Bole,  with  al  the  bemes  brighte, 
the  action  of  the  poem  begins;  and  later  the  sun's  "char  of  golde 
his  cours  so  swiftly  ran"  (1.  595),  that  twilight  came  and  gave  the 
poet  a  chance  to  write  about  what  he  had  seen.      Lydgate  nearly 
always  called  the  sun  "Phebus,"  and  often  mentioned  his  chariot 
of  gold.6     Other  imitators  of   Chaucer  began  occasionally  with 
astronomical  references,  as,  for  example,  the  Scottish  poets;  but 
none  with  any  such  frequency  as  Lydgate. 

THE    SPRING    SETTING 

After  fixing  the  time  as  indicated,  our  poet  proceeds  with  a 
description  of  the  joys  and  the  beauties  of  spring.  Such  details, 
it  is  well  known,  are  extremely  common  in  mediaeval  poetry.    The 

1  C.  7\,  E,  11.  2220,  2221.  2  c.  T.,  F,  1.  1247.  3  T.  C,  II,  11.  54,  55.  *  C.  T„  F,  1. 671. 

5  Chaucerian  and  Other  Pieces,  pp.  245  ff.    See  analysis,  p.  306  below. 

6  See  Chaucerian  Pieces,  XIII,  1.  26 ;  XXII,  1.  30 ;  M.  P.,  pp.  2, 6, 8, 24  ("  the  golden  cha yre 
of  Phebus"),  96,  118,  138  ("Phebus  goldene  chare"),  151, 153,  156, 160,  161,  182,  194,  195,  213,  215, 
216,  218,  242,  245;  Night.  I,  11.  26,  92;  T.  G.,  11.  5,  272,  note  p.  69;  R.  S.,  11.  450,  3766,  4606  ("the 
chare  of  Phebus");  Thebes,  Chalmers,  Vol.  I,  pp.  570,  588,  603;  Isopus,  Herrig's  Archiv, 
Vol.  LXXXV,  pp.  1  ff.,  11.  86,  390;  Anglia,  Vol.  IX,  pp.  3, 1.  30;  18,  1.  33;  22, 11.  10, 15. 

282 


"The  Flower  and  the  Leaf"  3 

spring  setting  is  almost  always  found  in  love  lyrics  and  love 
allegories,  on  account  of  the  natural  and  universal  association  of 
the  springtime  with  love.  Accordingly  it  would  be  futile,  even 
if  it  were  desirable,  to  attempt  here  an  exhaustive  treatment  of 
mediaeval  "spring  poetry."  Only  works  that  present,  along  with 
the  conventional  setting,  details  and  circumstances  resembling  in 
some  way  those  of  F.  L.  can  be  examined.  Accounts  of  such 
works,  nearly  all  poetical,  and  arranged  approximately  in  chrono- 
logical order,  will  make  up  the  remainder  of  this  chapter. 
Pastourelles — Provencal  and  French 
From  very  early  times  the  pastourelle  was  a  popular  form  of 
Romance  poetry,  with  a  perfectly  conventional  setting  and  situa- 
tion that  suggests  the  germ  of  F.  L.  In  spring,  when  the  birds 
sing  and  flowers  bloom,  a  knight  or  the  poet,  riding  through  a 
meadow  or  a  forest,  finds  a  pretty  shepherdess  guarding  her  flocks 
and  weaving  garlands,  sometimes  of  leaves,  more  often  of  flowers. 
Examples  are  so  numerous  that  no  exhaustive  list  can  be  made 
here.1  The  following  by  an  unknown  Provencal  poet  will 
illustrate  the  type: 

Eu'm  levei  un  bon  mati,    (5) 

enans  de  l'albeta; 
anei  m'en  en  un  vergier 

per  cuillir  violeta; 

et  auzi  un  chan 

bel,  de  luenh;  gardan 

trobei  gaia  pastorela 

sos  anhels  gardan.2 

Li  Fablel  dou  Dieu  d'Amodrs 
The  first  long  French  poem  to  be  considered  is  the  Fablel,3 
of  the  latter  part  of  the  twelfth  century — one  of   the   earliest 
allegories  based  in  part  on  Ovid's  Ars  Amatoria  and  preparing 

iSee  Mahn,  Gedichte  der  Troubadours,  Vol.  II,  pp.  160,  171,  177,  211;  Vol.  Ill,  p.  36; 
Tarbe,  Les  chansonniers  de  Champagne  aux  XI[e  et  XHIe  siecles  (Reims,  1850),  pp.  2,  13, 18, 
21,  23,  122,  123,  124;  Scheler,  Trouveres  beiges  du  XIU  au  XI  Ve  siecles  (Bruxelles,  1876), 
p.  68;  Trouveres  beiges  (nouvelle  serie;  Louvain,  1879),  p.  Ill;  Paris,  Chansons  du  XVe 
siecle,  pp.  6,  32,  114 ;  Poesies  de  Froissart,  Vol.  II,  pp.  308  ff. ;  CEuvres  po6tiques  de  Christine 
de  Pisan,  Vol.  II,  pp.  223  ff. 

^Quoted  from  Appel,  Provenzalische  Chrestomathie  (Zweite  Auflage,  1902),  p.  88.  The 
same  poem  is  found  in  Mahn,  Vol.  II,  p.  171 ;  and  in  Diez,  Altromanische  Sprachdenkmale , 
p.  119. 

3  Ed.  A.  Jubinal  (Paris,  1834). 

283 


4  George  L.  Marsh 

the  way  for  R.  R.  As  such  it  has  been  analyzed  in  several  recent 
monographs,1  but  some  details  require  attention  here.  After 
lying  in  bed  one  morning  with  no  delight  but  in  amorous  thought, 
the  poet  fell  asleep  and  dreamed,  in  part  as  follows: 

Je  me  levoie  par  .j.  matin  en  may,    (13) 

Por  la  douchor  des  oysiaus  et  del  glai, 

Del  loussignot,  del  malvis  et  dou  gai. 

Qant  fui  leves  en  .j.  pr6  m'en  entrai. 

Je  vos  dirai  com  faite  estoit  la  praeree; 

L'erbe  i  fu  grande  par  desous  la  rousee. 
Through  the  meadow  ran  a  clear,  beautiful  brook  that  would  make 
young  any  old  man  who  should  bathe  in  it.     The  poet  continues: 

Parmi  le  pr6e  m'alai  esbanoient,    (33) 

Les  le  riviere  tout  dal6s  .j.  pendant; 

Gardai  amont  deviers  soleil  luisant: 

.J.  vergi6  vie;  cele  part  vine  errant. 
This  garden  was  surrounded  by  a  ditch  and  a  high  wall;  but  the 
poet,  being  "courtois,"  was  allowed  to  enter. 

Qant  jou  oii  [he  says]  des  oisyllons  le  crit,    (78) 

D'autre  canchon  en  che  liu  ne  de  dit, 

N'eusse  cure,  che  sarins  tout  de  fit. 

Sous  ciel  n'a  home,  s'il  les  oist  canter,2 

Tant  fust  vilains  ne  l'esteut  amer; 

Illuec  m'asis  por  mon  cors  deporter, 

Desous  une  ente  ki  mult  fait  a  loer. 

Elle  est  en  l'an  .iij.  fois  de  tel  nature: 

Elle  flourist,  espanist  et  meure; 

De  tous  mehains  garist  qui  li  honeure, 

Fors  de  la  mort  vers  cui  riens  n'a  segure. 

Qant  desous  l'ente,  el  vergi6  fui  assis, 

Et  jou  oi  des  oysillons  les  cris, 

De  joie  fu  si  mes  cuers  raemplis, 

Moi  fu  avis  que  fuisse  en  paradis.3 
Then  the  poet  heard  the  nightingale  call  the  other  birds  about 
him  and  complain  of  the  degeneracy  of  love.     In  the  remainder 
of  the  poem  we  have  no  present  interest. 

i  Langlois,  Origines  et  sources  du  Roman  de  la  Rose  (Paris,  1890) ;  Mott,  The  System  of 
Courtly  Love  (Boston,  1896);  Neilson,  Harvard  Studies,  Vol.  VI  (1899).  Professor  Neilson 
has  dealt  with  a  large  number  of  the  works  discussed  in  this  chapter,  but  for  a  different 
purpose  than  mine.    I  shall  not  usually  make  specific  reference  to  his  valuable  study. 

2  Cf .  F.  £.,  11.  37,  38.  3  Cf .  F.  L.,  11. 113-15. 

284 


'The  Floweb  and  the  Leaf"  5 

De  Venus  la  Deesse  d'Amor 
The  main  ideas  of  the  Fablel  are  repeated  and  somewhat 
amplified  in  Venus,1  in  which,  to  quote  from  Gaston  Paris,  "est 
d^crit  le  'Champ  Fleuri,'  jardin  ou  'paradis'  ou  regne  le  dieu 
d'amour,  dont  la  cour  est  composed  d'oiseaux  !":  Here  we  do  not 
find  the  dream  setting  of  the  Fablel — a  lover  has  been  awake  all 
night  because  of  love;  but  the  springtime  setting  is  there,  pre- 
sented in  terms  so  similar  that  quotation  is  needless.  In  this 
poem  a  lover  by  chance  saw  Venus  and  three  damsels  of  her  train, 
somewhat  as  the  author  of  F.  L.  saw  the  companies  there  described. 

Le  Roman  de  la  Rose 

Much  more  important  than  the  Fablel  or  Venus  is  that  portion 
of  R.  R.  written  by  G-uillaume  de  Lorris.3  Not  only  does  it 
present  more  points  of  resemblance  to  F.  L.  than  any  other  poem 
written  before  the  latter  half  of  the  fourteenth  century,4  but  it 
set  the  fashion  in  allegory  for  more  than  two  hundred  years,  and 
was  thus  in  a  way  the  literary  parent  of  nearly  all  the  other 
works  to  which  our  author  may  have  been  indebted. 

The  poet  dreams  that  on  a  beautiful  May  morning  (described  in 
great  detail)5  he  rose  early  and  went  forth  until  he  came  to  a  river, 
along  which  he  wandered  through  a  "medewe  softe,  swote,  and 
grene"  (1.  128),  until  he  came  to  a  garden  (vergier)  inclosed 
with  high  walls  on  which  were  portraits  of  the  deadly  sins.  The 
noble  damsel  Ydelnesse  (Oiseuse)  opened  a  little  wicket  that  let 
him  into  the  garden,  which  he  found  to  be  like  paradise  (1.  648). 
Many  birds  sang  there — including  the  nightingale  and  the  gold- 
finch— as  beautifully  as  "sirens  of  the  sea."  After  listening  to 
the  birds  a  while,  the  poet  followed  a  little  path, 

Of  mentes  ful,  and  fenel  grene,     (731) 
till  he  reached  a  retreat  where  he  found  Myrthe  (Deduit)  with 
his  company,  beautiful  as  winged  angels.      These  people  were 

lEd.  W.  Foerster  (Bonn,  1880). 

2 La  literature  francaise  au  moyen  age,  par.  104. 

3  Examined  in  the  edition  of  Michel,  2  vols.,  Paris,  1864.  References,  however,  will  be 
to  the  Chaucerian  version. 

i  With  the  possible  exception  of  Les  Echecs  Amoureux,  which  I  have  not  seen.  See  the 
account  of  Lydgate's  R.  S.,  p.  310,  below. 

£>  Not  quoted  because  the  English  version  is  easily  accessible  in  editions  of  Chaucer. 
See  especially  11.  49-89. 

285 


6  George  L.  Marsh 

dancing  while  Dame  Gladnes  (Leesce)  sang  pleasantly  to  the 
accompaniment  of  flutes  and  other  instruments.  Here  also 
appeared  the  God  of  Love ;  and  after  a  long  description  of  him 
and  of  various  ladies  in  his  train,  the  poet  tells  of  wandering 
into  another  garden,  followed  by  Love  and  some  of  his  company. 

The  gardin  was,  by  mesuring,    (1349) 

Right  evene  and  squar  in  compassing; 

It  was  as  long  as  it  was  large; 

and  within  it  were  set  trees  of  various  kinds,  including  medlars, 
laurels,  and  oaks.     Moreover: 

These  trees  were  set,  that  I  devyse,     (1391) 

Oon  from  another,  in  assyse, 

Five  fadome  or  sixe,  I  trowe  so, 

But  they  were  hye  and  grete  also;1 

And  for  to  kepe  out  wel  the  sonne, 

The  croppes  were  so  thikke  y-ronne, 

And  every  braunch  in  other  knet, 

And  ful  of  grerie  leves  set, 

That  sonne  mighte  noon  descende, 

Lest  (it)  the  tendre  grasses  shende. 

These  tender  grasses  were 

thikke  y-set 
And  softe  as  any  veluet;    (1420) 

and  there  were  many  flowers  in  the  garden.  The  poet  sat  down 
to  rest  beneath  a  pine  tree  beside  the  fountain  of  Narcissus. 
Reflected  in  the  mirror  at  the  bottom  of  this  fountain  he  saw  the 
beautiful  rosebush,  surrounded  by  a  hedge,  which  was  the  inspira- 
tion of  all  his  later  efforts.  The  scent  of  the  roses  particularly 
attracted  him,  for  it  had  healing  powers."  With  the  wounds 
which  the  God  of  Love  inflicted  upon  the  poet  and  his  prolonged 
efforts  to  win  for  his  own  the  most  perfect  rose  on  the  bush,  we 
are  not  concerned. 

The  de  Condes,  Father  and  Son 
La  Voie  de  Paradis,  of  Baudouin  de  Cond<§,3  begins  with  a 
description    of   springtime,   which,    as    M.  Scheler    points    out,4 

i  Cf.  F.  L„  11.  29-32.  2  Michel  ed.,  11. 1824,  4096,  etc. 

3  Dits  et  cont&s  de  Baudouin  de  Condi,  et  de  son  fils  Jean  de  Condi,  ed.  A.  Scheler 
(Bruxelles,  1866,  1867),  Vol.  I,  pp.  205  ff. 
i  Note,  p.  484. 

286 


"The  Flower  and  the  Leap"  7 

bears  a  very  strong  resemblance  to  the  corresponding  description 
near  the  beginning  of  R.  R.  Special  attention  may  be  called  to 
the  following  fragments  of  detail: 

Lors  est  chel  jour  grans  joie  nee,     (16) 
Quar  toute  riens  vivans  s'esjoie. 


Sour  l'ierbe  qui  est  arousee,    (22) 
Dont  la  terre  s'est  revestue,1 

Et  cil  bois  dont  tetis  m'estoie,    (30) 

Qui  en  yver  sont  desnue\2 

Ont  tout  leur  poure  abit  mu6, 

Pour  le  temps  dont  cascuns  s'orgueille. 

Quant  tout  bois  et  vergier  et  pr6    (42) 
Sont  tel,  n'est  nus  ne  s'esjoisse,3 
Conbien  que  de  son  cuer  joie  isse. 

Jean  de  Cond6,  like  his  father,  Baudouin,  was  especially 
interested  in  pointing  a  moral  to  adorn  his  tale ;  but  he  was  also 
fond  of  the  conventional  setting.  An  interesting  little  Debat  de 
VAmani  Hardi  et  de  V Amend  Cremeteus*  begins  with  a  brief  but 
rather  comprehensive  description  of  spring,  at  the  conclusion  of 
which  the  poet  tells  of  his  entering  a  "moult  biel  vregier."  Here 
he  encounters  two  ladies,  who  are  arguing  a  question  in  love 
casuistry  which  they  ask  him  to  answer. 

La  Messe  des  Oisiaus  of  Jean  de  Cond65  is  particularly  im- 
portant in  relation  to  the  part  taken  by  birds  in  mediaeval  love 
allegory;  but  a  number  of  features  should  be  considered  here. 
The  poet  says  he  went  to  bed 

une  nuit  de  may    (3) 
Tout  sans  pesance  et  sans  esmay;6 

and  dreamed  that  he  sat  under  a  pine  tree  listening  to  the  birds 
sing  just  before  dawn.     Of  them  he  says: 

Ains  nus  n'en  vit  tant  en  sa  vie,     (17) 
Qu'il  sembloit  bien  que  par  envie 

1  Cf.  F.  L.,  11.  7,  8.  *Dits  etcontes,  Vol.  II,  pp.  297  ff. 

2  Cf .  F.  L.,  11. 11, 12.  5  Ibid.,  Ill,  pp.  1  ff. 
3Cf.  F.  L.,  11. 13, 14.                                                  6Cf.  F.  L.,  1.  21. 

287 


8  George  L.  Marsh 

Li  uns  pour  1  'autre  s  'efforchast; ' 

A  l'oir  m'orent  tost  embl6    (24) 
Mon  cuer  et  en  joie  ravi.2 

Altogether  the  place  seemed  like  a  "drois  paradis."  Farther  on 
the  poet  continues: 

Leveis  ert  en  haut  li  soliaus,     (91) 

Si  ert  li  tans  et  clers  et  biaus, 

Li  ore  douche  et  atempree; 

Si  ert  revestie  la  pree 

De  verte  herbe  et  de  flours  diverses, 

Blanches,  jaunes,  rouges  et  perses; 

Ases  y  ot  d'arbres  divers, 

De  fueille  viestis  et  couviers, 

Et  fuison  y  ot  de  floris. 

Soon  the  nightingale  sang  mass  before  Venus,  and  other  birds 
joined  in  a  beautiful  service: 

Ki  chanter  les  ot,  bien  li  samble    (126) 

Qu'oncques  mil  jour  chose  n'o'ist 

De  coi  ses  cuers  tant  s'es joist. 

Among  the  other  birds  the  goldfinch  is  mentioned  (1.  173)  as 
joining  in  a  second  "alleluye."  After  the  service  love  suits  were 
presented  to  the  goddess.  A  sick  man  in  a  litter  was  healed  by 
the  sweet  odor  of  leaves  plucked  from  a  rose  (11.  348  ff.)  A  com- 
pany of  canonesses  in  white,  accompanied  by  many  knights,  com- 
plained of  the  action  of  certain  gray-clad  nuns  in  enticing  their 
lovers  away.     With  the  ensuing  debate  we  are  not  here  concerned. 

Nicole  de  Mabgival 
In  La  Panth&re  cT  Amours,  by  Nicole  de  Margival,3  the  spring 
setting  is  not  presented ;  but  the  action  in  some  respects  resembles 
that  of  F.  L.  The  poet  dreams  that  the  birds  carry  him  to  a 
forest  full  of  beasts,  all  of  which,  except  the  dragon,  follow  one 
particularly  beautiful  panther,  with  a  sweet  breath  that  can  cure 
all  imaginable  ills.  After  a  time  the  beasts  all  disappear,  and 
the  poet,  left  alone,  hears  the  sound  of  music  and  sees  a  great 
company  of  richly  attired  people  approaching  him,  singing  and 

i  Cf.  F.  L.,  11.  447,  448.  2  Cf.  F.  L.,  11.  101-3. 

3  Ed.  H.  A.  Todd,  Soci6t§  des  Anciens  Textes  Frangais  (Paris,  1883). 

288 


THE 


"The  Flower  and  the  Leaf"  9 

dancing.  Among  them  is  the  God  of  Love,  their  king ;  and  under 
his  direction  the  poet  undertakes  a  search  for  the  beautiful 
panther  which  symbolizes  his  lady.  She  is  finally  found  in  a 
valley  surrounded  by  a  thorny  hedge.  Her  breath  is  curative 
like  the  smell  of  the  rose  in  R.  R.,  the  laurel  and  the  eglantine 
in  F.  L.,  etc.  The  God  of  Love  explains  to  the  poet  all  this 
symbolism,  very  much  as  the  lady  in  white  explains  the  allegory 
of  F.  L. 

Watriquet  de  Couvin 

Several  of  the  poems  of  Watriquet  de  Couvin,  a  diligent  dis- 
ciple of  Guillaume  de  Lorris  during  the  first  half  of  the  four- 
teenth century,  contain  details  similar  to  those  of  F.  L.  Most 
of  these  poems  may  be  summarized  rapidly. 

In  Li  Dis  de  VArbre  Royal,1  an  elaborate  compliment  to  the 
descendants  of  Philippe  le  Bel,  the  poet  dreams  that  he  is 

En  .i.  bel  vergier  verdoiant,    (20) 
Loing  de  la  ville,  en  .  i .  destour, 
Enclos  d'un  haut  mm-  tout  entour. 

He  wanders,  listening  to  the  birds,  till  he  comes  to  a  wonder- 
ful tree — such  a  tree  as  was  never  seen  before  "en  terre  ne  en 
mer."2     Some  lines  farther  on  he  continues: 

Atant  souz  l'arbre  errant  m'assis,     (118) 
Que  je  ne  voil  plus  atargier, 
S'esgardai  aval  le  vergier 
Que  de  biaus  iert  suppelatis, 


Ou  douz  mois  qu'arbres  rapareille 
Flors  et  f ueilles  pour  lui  couvrir. 

The  scene  of  the  Tournois  des  Dames3  is  the  "haute  forest  de 
Bouloigne,"  which  is 

plains  de  si  grant  melodie    (33) 
En  avril  quant  li  bois  verdie, 
Que  nulz  croire  ne  le  porroit, 
Qui  li  douz  rousignol  orroit 
Chanter  en  icelle  saison. 

iDits  de  Watriquet  de  Couvin,  ed.  A.  Scheler  (Bruxelles,  1868),  pp.  83  ff. 
2Cf.  the  description  of  the  laurel  and  medlar  trees  in  F.  L.,  11.  86-88, 109-12. 
3  Dits,  pp.  251  ff . 

289 


10  George  L.  Marsh 

Then  after  further  description  of  the  birds'  song,  the  poet  remarks: 

Je  ne  sai  d'autrui,  rnais  h  mi     (52) 
Semble  de  l'ostel  et  de  l'estre 
Ce  soit  fins  paradis  terrestre,1 
Tant  est  de  melodie  plains. 
And  again: 

Et  puis  i  refont  si  grant  noise    (64) 
Cil  autres  oisel6s  menus, 
Qu'il  n'est  hons  joenes  ne  chanus 
Grant  deduit  n'i  poist  avoir. 

The  goldfinch  is  mentioned  among  other  birds. 

Li  Dis  de  VEscharbote2  also  begins  with  a  spring  setting.  The 
poet  enters  a  garden,  falls  asleep,  and  dreams  that  he  encounters 
a  "sergent,"  very  noble  and  courteous,  in  whose  company  he 
journeys  through  a  valley  to  a  beautiful  city  that  seems  like  an 
"earthly  paradise."  This  city  is  the  world,  in  which  blind 
Fortune  reigns  as  mistress;  and  its  inhabitants,  following  her 
lead  in  caring  for  nothing  but  pleasure,  are  precipitated  into  the 
bottom  of  the  valley.     They  are  like  the  "escharbote," 

Qui  vole  par  les  haus  vergiez    (211) 
De  fleurs  et  de  feuilles  chargiez, 
Ou  li  roussignols  chante  et  crie.3 

Of  all  the  poems  of  Watriquet  de  Couvin,  however,  Li  Dis  de 
la  Fontaine  d? Amours*  presents  the  most  details  worth  citation. 
One  morning  in  spring  the  poet  says  he  found 

Un  vergier  de  lone  temps  plants    (7) 
Ou  d'arbres  avoit  grant  plenty, 
Qui  fait  avoient  couverture 
Et  de  couleur  de  maint  tainture. 
Lors  entrai  dedenz  sanz  esmai 
En  ce  jolif  termine  en  mai, 
Qu'oisel6s  de  chanter  s'esforce 
Au  miex  qu'il  puet  selonc  sa  force; 
En  pluseurs  Hex,  par  divers  chans, 
Mainent  joie  a  ville  et  h,  champs, 

iCf.  F.  L.,  1.  115.  ZDits,  pp.  397  ff. 

3  In  contrast  with  the  usual  signification  of  the  colors,  as  noted  in  chap,  ii  above,  the 
members  of  this  company,  with  their  slight  resemblance  to  the  green-clad  followers  of  the 
Flower,  are  clad  in  white.    No  specific  significance  is  attached  to  the  color,  however. 

*  Dits,  pp.  101  ff . 

290 


"The  Flowek  and  the  Leaf"  11 

Et  toute  riens  iert  en  delis. 


Tant  iert  plains  de  grant  melodie    (23) 
Cis  vergiers,  n'est  hons  qui  vous  die 
Ne  fame,  de  sa  biaute"  nombre. 
Pour  reposer  visai  .i.  ombre 
Par  desouz  une  ente  florie, 
Soutilment  par  compas  norrie, 
Et  tainte  en  diverse  couleur; 
N'est  hons,  tant  etist  de  douleur,1 
Qu'a  l'oudeur  ne  fust  alegiez. 

In  this  delightful  place  is  the   beautiful  fountain  of  love,  the 
subject  of  the  poem.2 

GUILLAUME    DE    MACHADT 

The  poets  and  poems  heretofore  discussed,  except  R.  R.,  are 
of  value  in  this  investigation  rather  as  showing  how  conventional 
certain  elements  of  setting  and  machinery  became,  than  as  very 
likely  to  have  had  any  direct  influence  upon  the  author  of  F.  L. 
The  case  is  different  with  a  group  of  French  poets  now  to  be 
considered. 

Oldest  of  these,  and  in  many  ways  the  master  of  the  school, 
was  Guillaume  de  Machaut.  The  opening  lines  of  his  Dit  du 
Vergier  were  among  the  first  French  sources  specifically  suggested 
for  F.  L.,3  and  deserve  citation  here: 

Quant  la  douce  saison  repaire4 
D'este\  qui  maint  amant  esclaire, 
Que  prez  et  bois  sont  en  verdour 
Et  li  oisillon  par  baudour 
Chantent,  et  par  envoiseure, 
Chascuns  le  chant  de  sa  nature, 
Pour  la  douceur  du  temps  f  6ri,5 
Ou  doulz  mois  d'avril  le  joli, 
Me  levay  par  un  matinet, 

1  Cf.  F.  L.,  U.  81-84. 

20ther  poems  by  Watriquet  with  the  spring  setting  are  (1)  "Li  Mireoirs  as  Dames'" 
(Dits,  pp.  1  ff.);  (2)"  Li  Dis  de' Iraigne  etduCrapot"(pp.  65  ff.)  ;  (3)  "  Li  Disdes  JIII.  Sieges" 
(pp.  163  ff.);  (4)  "Li  Dis  des  .VIII.  Couleurs"  (pp.  311  ff).  In  (2)  and  (3)  the  scene  is  a 
"vergier;"  in  all  the  song  of  the  birds  is  prominent;  in  (2)  the  poet  falls  asleep  beneath  a 
"  buisson"  and  dreams.    The  nightingale  and  the  hawthorn  are  several  times  mentioned. 

3  By  Sandras,  Etude  sur  Chaucer,  p.  98.  I  quote  from  OEuvres  choisies  de  Machault,  ed. 
Tarb6  (Paris,  1849),  pp.  11  ff.    The  text  differs  in  some  details  from  that  given  by  Sandras. 

*  Cf .  F.  L„  1. 15.  5  Sandras,  siri. 

291 


12  Geoege  L.  Mabsh 

Et  entray  en  un  jardinet 
Ou  il  havoit  arbres  pluseurs, 
Flori  de  diverses  couleurs. 
Si  trouvay  une  sentelette1 
Plainne  de  rousee  et  d'erbette, 
Par  ou  j'alai  sans  atargier; 
Tant  qu'&  1 'entree  d'un  vergier 
Me  fist  adventure  apporter.2 
S'entray  pour  moy  deporter 
Pleins  d'arnoureuse  maladie, 
Et  pour  oir  le  inelodie 
Des  oisillons  qui  ens  estoient,3 
Qui  si  ti'^s  doucement  chantoient 
Que  bouche  ne  le  porroit  dire : 
N'onqs  home  vivans  n'ot  tant  d'ire 
Que  s'il  peust  leur  chant  oir 
Qu'il  ne  s'en  deust  resjoir, 
[En  son  cuer,  et  que  sans  sejour 
N'entroubliast  toute  dolour,]4 
Tant  avoit  en  eulx  de  deliz. 

When  the  poet  heard  the  songs  of  the  birds,  especially  of  the 
nightingale,  which  sounded  above  all  others,  he  went  into  the  most 
beautiful  garden  he  had  ever  seen,  all  sown  with  flowers  of  diverse 
colors,  and  planted  with  green  and  flowering  trees. 

S'ot  en  milieu  un  arbrissel 
De  fleurs  et  de  feuilles  si  bel, 
Si  bel,  si  gent,  si  aggreable 
Si  tres  plaisant,  si  delitable 
Et  plein  de  si  tres  bonne  odour, 
Que  nulz  n'en  auroit  la  savour, 
Tout  fust  ses  cuers  deeonfortez 5 
Qu'il  ne  fust  tout  reeonfortez. 


Je  ne  scay  que  ce  pooit  estre 
Fors  que  le  paradis  terrestre. 

From  this  place  the  poet  passed  into  a  meadow,  where  he  had  a 

vision,  as  follows: 

Car  il  m'est  vis  que  je  veoie 

Au  joli  prael  ou  j'estoie 

La  plus  tr&s  belle  compaignie 

iCf.F.JL.,  11.  43-45.  *F.  £,.,11.  37,  38.  »  Cf.  F.  Z,.,  11.  81-84. 

2  Sandras  aporcer.  *  Not  in  Tarb6. 

292 


"The  Flower  and  the  Leaf"  13 

Qu'oncques  fust  veue  ne  oiie : 
La  avoit-il  vi  Damoisiaus 
Juenes,  jolis,  gentils  et  biaus ; 
Et  si  avoit  vi  Damoiselles 
Qui  a  merveilles  estoient  belles. 
Et  dessus  le  bel  arbrissel, 
Qui  estoit  en  mi  le  praiel, 
Se  seoit  une  creature 
De  trop  merveilleuse  figure. 

This  was  the  God  of  Love.     He  wore  on  his  head  a 

chappelet  de  rosettes, 
De  muguet  et  de  violet  tes. 

At  the  poet's  request  the  god  explained  the  vision. 

Machaut's  Dit  clou  Lyon'  also  has  the  spring  setting.  The 
poet  is  roused  by  the  song  of  the  birds,  goes  into  the  country, 
and  is  conveyed  in  a  magic  boat  to  an  island  where  he  finds  a 
beautiful  garden  which  no  one  can  enter  who  has  not  been  faithful 
in  love.  As  Sandras  points  out,2  there  are  in  this  poem  trees  of 
uniform  height  and  planted  at  equal  intervals,  as  in  F.  L. — "  genre 
de  paysage  d&]h  d6crit  par  G.  de  Lorris  et  qui  charmait  les  anciens 
Bretons." 

Le  Dit  cle  la  Rose 3  begins  with  a  rather  brief  description  of  a 
scene  in  May.  Early  one  morning  the  poet  wanders  through  a 
green  meadow  till  he  sees  a  "jardinet," 

Qui  estoit  de  les  un  vergier. 

He  enters  and  comes  to  — 

un  buisson  d'espines 
Plein  de  rouses  et  de  racines, 
Et  de  toutes  herbes  poingnans, 
Qu'au  buisson  estoient  joingnans. 

Et  si  estoit  par  tel  maistrie 
Hayes,  qu'onque  join:  de  ma  vie 
Je  ne  vi  haye  ne  haiette  * 
Si  bien  ne  si  proprement  faitte. 

1  Extracts  are  found  in  CEuvres  choisies,  ed.  Tarbe,  pp.  40  ff.,  but  I  have  not  seen  the 
whole  poem. 

*  Etude  sur  Chaucer,  p.  104.  3  Tarbe,  CEuvres  choisies,  pp.  65  ft'. 

*Ct.F.L.,  11.  61-63. 

293 


14  George  L.  Maesh 

Within  the  inclosure  surrounded  by  this  hedge  there  is  a  very 
beautiful  rose,  the  sweetness  of  which  cures  all  the  ills  of  love. 
Manifestly  the  poem  is  an  imitation  of  R.  R. 

Jean  Froissart 

Certain  poems  by  the  chronicler  Froissart  were  early  suggested 
as  possible  sources  of  parts  of  F.  L. 

Le  Paradys  aV Amour,1  believed  to  be  one  of  his  earliest  pro- 
ductions, is  the  account  of  a  dream  in  which  the  poet  is  admitted 
within  the  "clos"  of  the  God  of  Love,  and  then  within  a  delight- 
ful garden  where  he  finds  his  lady.  The  setting  presents  the 
usual  elements  :  fresh  grass,  flowers,  trees  ;  songs  of  birds,  includ- 
ing the  nightingale  ;  all  the  beauties  of  a  day  in  May.  Near  the 
end  of  the  conventional  description  the  poet  says : 

Pour  mieuls  oi'r  les  oisel^s,  (59) 
M'assis  dessous  deux  rainssel^s 2 
D'aube  espine  toute  florie. 

A  long  complaint  follows,  after  which  two  ladies,  Plaisance  and 
Esperance,  appear  and  ultimately  conduct  the  poet  to  a  place 
where,  he  says : 

Lors  regardai  en  une  lande,     (957) 

Si  vi  une  compagne  grande 

De  dames  et  de  damoiselles 

Fiiches  et  jolies  et  belles, 

Et  grant  foison  de  damoiseaus 

Jolis  et  amoureus  et  beaus, 

Qui  estoient  la  arrests 

Et  de  treschier  tout  aprest6. 

Tout  estoient  de  vert  vesti, 

N'i  avoit  ceste  ne  cesti. 

Les  dames  furent  orfrisies, 

Drut  perlees  et  bien  croisies, 

Et  li  signeur  avoient  cor 

D'ivoire  bend6  de  fin  or.3 

The  poet  asks  who  all  these  people  are,  and  receives  in  answer  a 
long  list  of  names  of  famous  lovers.     A  little  farther  on  he  comes 

iPotisies,  od.  Scholar;  3  vols.,  Paris,  1870-72;  Vol.  I,  pp.  1  ff. 
2Cf.  F.  L.,  11.117-19. 

3Cf.  F.  L.,  11.  324  ff.  A  portion  of  this  passage  is  quoted  by  Sandras,  E.tude  sur  Chaucer, 
p.  101 ;  but  is  erroneously  said  to  be  from  Le  Temple  d'  Honour. 

294 


"The  Flower  and  the  Leaf"  15 

to  the  tent  of  the  God  of  Love,  to  whom  he  sings  a  lay  that  is 
favorably  received.  After  this  interruption,  the  poet  and  his 
guides  go  on  through  a  shady  forest,  singing  and  dancing,  till 
they  come  to  a  meadow, 

Ou  vert  faisoit,  plaisant  et  bel,     (1456) 

Tout  euclos  de  vermaus  rosiers, 

D'anqueliers  et  de  lisiers, 

Et  la  chautoit  li  rosignols 

En  son  chant  qui  fu  moult  mignos. 

Si  tretos  que  son  chant  ol 

Moult  grandement  me  resjo'i.1 

Here  he  finds  his  lady  and  sings  to  her  his  ballade  in  praise  of  the 
marguerite.2 

U  Espinette  amoureiise3  is  in  general  an  account  of  Froissart's 
youth;  but  in  one  episode  presents  details  of  interest  here,  as 

follows: 

Ce  fu  ou  joli  mois  de  may;     (351) 
Je  n'oc  doubtance  ne  esmai,4 
Quant  j'entrai  en  un  gardinet ; 
II  estoit  asses  matinet,5 
Un  peu  apres  l'aube  crevant; 
Nulle  riens  ne  m'aloit  grevant, 
Mes  toute  chose  me  plaisoit, 
Pour  le  joli  temps  qu'il  faisoit 
Et  estoit  apparant  dou  faire. 
Cil  oizellon,  en  leur  afaire, 
Chantoient  si  com  par  estri.6 


Je  me  tenoie  en  un  moment,     (380) 

Et  pensoie  au  chant  des  oiseauls, 

En  regardant  les  arbriseaus 

Dont  il  y  avoit  grant  foison, 

Et  estoie  sous  un  buisson 

Que  nous  appellons  aube  espine. 

At  this  time  and  place  three  ladies,  Juno,  Venus,  and  Pallas,  and 
a  youth,  Mercury,  appear  to  the  poet  and  present  the  story  of  the 
apple  of  discord.7 

iCf.  F.  L.,  11. 102,  103.  3  Poesies,  ed.  Scheler;  Vol.  I,  pp.  87  ff.  *Cf.  F.  L.,  1.  21. 

a  Mentioned  in  chap,  ii,  above,  p.  158.  5  Cf .  F.L.,1.  25.  6  Qf.  f.  L.,  11.  447,  448. 

7  A  version  of  this  story  is  also  found  in  Lydgate's  R.  S.  (see  p.  310  below)  introduced 
very  much  as  by  Froissart.  Apparently  the  latter  was  imitating  Lydgate's  French  original, 
Les  Echecs  Amoureux. 

295 


16  George  L.  Marsh 

Un  Trettii  Amourous  a  la  Loenge  dou  Jolis  Mois  de  May1  pre- 
sents several  points  of  interest.     One  day  in  May  the  poet, 

Pensans  a  l'amoureuse  vie,    (1) 

enters  an  inclosure  made  of  rosebushes,  osiers,  etc.,  where  the 
nightingale  is  singing.     There,  he  continues: 

Au  regarder  pris  le  vregi6,     (25) 
Que  tout  authour  on  ot  vregie\ 

De  rainsel^s 
Espessement  et  dur  margiet2 
Et  ouniement  arrengi6; 

Au  veoir  ]es 
Ce  sarnbloit  des  arbrisseles 
Qu'on  les  euiist  au  compas  fais 

Et  entailli<§s. 
D'oir  chanter  les  oiselds, 
Leur  divers  chans  et  leur  mot^s, 

J'oc  le  coer  li6. 

There  is  mention  of  the  sweet  odor  of  leaves  and  flowers,  and  of 
the  song  of  the  nightingale,  which  like  an  "amorous  dart1'  reminds 
the  poet  of  his  love.3 

EUSTACHE    DESCHAMPS 

The  eleven  volumes  in  which  the  work  of  Machaut's  friend  and 
pupil,  Eustache  Deschamps,  is  now  published4  contain,  amid  a 
great  mass  of  didactic  and  satirical  work,  a  number  of  references 
to  May  Day  customs  and  several  rather  elaborate  settings  similar 
to  that  of  F.  L.  The  most  noteworthy  of  these  are  found  in  Le 
Lay  Amour  eux  and  Le  Lay  de  Franchise. 

The  former5  begins  with  a  very  elaborate  description  of  spring. 
There  is  mention  of  the  nightingale  and  other  birds,  with  their 
songs ;  the  renewal  of  meadows,  fields,  leaves,  and  flowers ;  of 

L'aubespine  que  nous  querons,     (29) 
L'esglantier  que  nous  odorons; 

i  Po&sies,  ed.  Scheler,  Vol.  II,  pp.  194  ff. 
2Cf.  F.  £,..11.57,58. 

:fOn<'  other  poom  by  Froissart,  Ledit  dou  bleu  chevalier,  will  be  mentioned  in  connec- 
tion with  Lydgate's  B.  K.  below. 

*Societe  des  Anciens  Textes  Francais,  ed.  De  Queux  de  Saint-Hilaire  (Vols.  I-VI)  and 
Raynaud  (Vols.  VII-XI),  Paris,  1878-1903. 

•>  OZuvres  de  Deschamps,  Vol.  II,  pp.  193  ff. 

296 


"The  Flower  and  the  Leaf"  17 

of  "chapeaulx,  qui  en  veult  enquerre,"  and  of 

La  marguerite  nette  et  pure.    (47) 

Then  follows  an   interesting  description   of  May  Day  customs, 

telling  how  .  ,  _  ,_., . 

°  prmces  et  Roys    (61) 

Le  premier  jour  de  ce  doulz  mois, 

Chevaliers,  dames,  pucellettes, 

Escuiers,  clers,  lays  et  bourgois, 

go  to  the  woods  to  pick  flowers,  make  garlands,  sing  songs,  listen 
to  the  nightingale,  and  hold  jousts,  feasts,  dances — merry-makings 
of  all  kinds — in  honor  of  springtime  and  love.  On  such  a  morn- 
ing as  this  the  poet  dreamed  that  when  he  was  walking  in  a  beau- 
tiful meadow,  he  saw,  beneath  a  tall,  green  pine  tree  beside  a 
brook,  "un  seigneur  tressouverain,"  near  whom  were  many  people 
praying.  In  order  better  to  see  what  should  happen,  the  poet  hid 
behind  a  hawthorn,  and  soon  the  God  of  Love  appeared.  The 
company  beneath  the  tree  was  composed  of  the  famous  lovers  of 
history  and  legend,  as  well  as  various  allegorical  characters.  Some 
of  the  latter  began  a  discussion,  the  burden  of  which  proved  to 
be  that  youth  ought  to  love;  and  then  after  a  time  the  company 
departed.  The  poet,  in  great  fear,  was  discovered  eavesdropping ; 
but  awoke  unharmed  immediately  after  he  heard  some  of  Love's 
company  speak  well  of  him. 

Deschamps'  Lay  de  Franchise1  is  of  special  importance  because, 
as  already  noted,  it  has  been  singled  out  as  a  model  for  F.  L.2 
The  formal  presentation  of  the  setting  in  this  poem  is  brief: 

C'est  qu'en  doulz  mois  que  toute  fleur  s'avance,    (8) 

Arbres,  buissons,  que  terre  devenir 

Veult  toute  vert  et  ses  flours  espanir, 

Du  mois  de  may  me  vint  la  souvenance 

Dont  maintes  gens  ont  la  coustume  en  France 

En  ce  doulz  temps  d'aler  le  may  cueillir. 

Le  premier  join  de  ce  mois  de  plaisance, 
the  poet  goes  forth  at  break  of  day  thinking  of  his  lady,  who  is 
described  as  a  flower,  the  daisy.3     After  a  long  tribute  to  her  he 
continues : 

1  (Euvres,  Vol.  II,  pp.  203  ff.    See  Vol.  XI,  p.  46,  as  to  the  occasion  for  this  poem. 

2  By  Professor  C.  F.  McClumpha  in  Modern  Language  Notes,  Vol.  IV,  cols.  402  ff.  See 
p.  135  above. 

3  See  discussion  of  the  cult  of  the  daisy,  chap,  ii  above. 

297 


18  George  L.  Marsh 

Ainsis  pensans  vins  par  une  bruiere  (66) 
En  un  grant  pare  d'arbres  et  de  fouchiere 
Qui  fut  ferme  de  nierveilleus  pouoir, 

by  means  of  various  fortifications,  elaborately  described. 
The  poet,  nevertheless,  continues  his  pilgrimage: 

Mais,  en  passant,  vy  ja  dessus  l'erbage    (93) 

De  damoiseaulx  tresnoble  compaignie 

Vestus  de  vert ;  autre  gent  de  parage 

Qui  portoient  sarpes  pour  faire  ouvrage 

Et  se  mistrent  a  couper  le  fueillie. 

Oultre  passay  qu'ilz  ne  me  virent  mie; 

En  un  busson  me  mis  en  tapinage 

Pour  regarder  de  celle  gent  la  vie 

Et  pour  oir  la  douce  melodie 

Des  rossignolz  crians  ou  jardinage: 

"  Occi  iccy." 

Other  birds  also  sang,  including  the  goldfinch.     Moreover: 

Parmi  ce  bois  dames  et  damoiseaulx    (118) 
Qui  chantoient  notes  et  sons  nouveaulx 
Pour  la  doucour  du  temps  qui  fut  jolis, 
Cueillans  les  fleurs,  l'erbe,  les  arbressaulx, 
Dont  ilz  firent  sainttues  et  chappeaulx; 
De  verdure  fnrent  touz  revestis. 
Cilz  jours  estoit  uns  mondains  paradis ; 
Car  maint  firent  des  arbres  chalenieaulx 
Et  flajolez  dont  fleustoient  toubis. 

The  grass  was  covered  with  sweet  dew,  which,  besides  being  beau- 
tiful to  look  at,  was  of  material  assistance  in  renewing  the  growth 
of  grass  and  flowers. 

After  a  time,  during  which  the  poet  listened  to  various  private 
conversations  about  love,  he  heard  a  great  noise 

yssant  d'une  valee    (145) 
Ou  il  ot  gens  qui  venoient  jouster. 

Of  course  they  were  on  horseback,  and  among  them  was  a  king  of 
wonderful  prowess; 

Sur  un  coursier  fut  de  vert  appareil,    (157) 
Accompaigniez  de  son  frere  pareil; 
Contes  et  dus,  chevaliers  et  barons, 
Dames  y  ot,  dont  pas  ne  me  merveil, 
298 


"The  Flower  and  the  Leaf"  19 

Haultes,  nobles,  plaines  de  doulz  acueil 
Qui  de  chapeaulx  et  branches  firent  dons. 

In  the  joust  that  follows, 

L'un  sur  l'autre  font  des  lances  tronsons     (165) 
Et  se  portent  sur  terre  et  sur  buissons. 
A  l'assembler  n'avoit  pas  grant  conseil, 
Aincois  queroit  chascuns  jouste  a  son  vueil 
Sanz  espargnier  chevaulx,  bras  ne  talons. 

Then  the  noise  ceases,  and  they  all  kneel  humbly  before  the  king, 
who  directs  them  to  do  honor  to  May.  Various  persons  speak  on 
subjects  pertaining  to  love,  and  after  a  time  the  whole  company 
adjourns  to  a  "plaisant  hoste,"  with  a  beautiful  garden  beside  the 
Marne.     This  house  is  furnished  in  green  and  gold. 

The  poet  comes  out  of  his  hiding-place,  sees  the  feast  spread 
before  the  king  and  his  company,  and  then  proceeds  on  his  journey 
till  he  finds  Robin  and  Marion  (conventional  pastoral  characters) 
sitting  under  a  beech  tree  and  talking  about  the  comforts  of  their 
life  in  contrast  with  the  lives  of  kings.  The  latter  part  of  the 
poem  has  no  possible  relation  with  F.  L. 

Chaucer 
Since  the  passages  from  Chaucer  that  resemble  portions  of 
F.  L.  have  nearly  all  been  pointed  out  by  others,1  it  will  not  be 
necessary  to  deal  with  his  work  at  such  length  as  its  importance 
in  this  connection  would  otherwise  justify.  As  I  have  said,  the 
author  of  F.  L.  was  first  of  all  an  imitator  of  Chaucer,  and  detailed 
resemblances  to  the  master  are  too  numerous  to  mention.  Only 
the  more  important  parallels  in  plan  and  setting  need  be 
considered. 

In  B.  D.  we  find  the  sleepless  poet,  who,  moreover,  as  in  F.  L., 
knows  not  why  he  cannot  sleep.2  Reading  makes  him  drowsy  at 
last,  however,  and  he  dreams  that  on  a  May  morning  he  was 
wakened  at  dawn  by  the  songs  of  "smale  foules  a  gret  hepe," 
which  sang  a  solemn  service  about  the  roof  of  his  chamber. 

Was  never  y-herd  so  swete  a  steven,     (307) 
But  hit  had  be  a  thing  of  heven.3 

i  Especially  by  Professor  Skeat,  in  Chaucerian  and  Other  Pieces. 
2  Cf.  B.  D.,  1.  34,  with  F.  L.,  1. 19.  3  Cf.  F.  L.,  11.  129-33. 

299 


20  George  L.  Marsh 

After  a  time  the  poet  rises  to  go  hunting.     While  on  the  chase  he 
follows  one  of  the  dogs 

Doun  by  a  floury  grene  wente    (398) 
Ful  thikke  of  gras,  ful  softe  and  swete,1 
With  floures  fele,  faire  under  fete, 
And  litel  used,  hit  seemed  thus. 


In  the  forest, 


every  tree  stood  by  him-selve,    (419) 
Fro  other  wel  ten  foot  or  twelve.2 


With  the  later  events  of  the  poem  we  are  not  here  concerned. 

P.  F.  also  has  the  dream  setting.  The  time  is  St.  Valentine's 
Day,  instead  of  May,  but  the  surroundings  are  those  of  spring. 
Wherever  the  poet  casts  his  eye  he  sees  "trees  clad  with  leves 
that  ay  shal  laste"  (1.  173),  including  the  oak  and  the  laurel. 
Continuing,  he  says: 

A  garden  saw  I,  ful  of  blosmy  bowes,    (183) 

Upon  a  river,  in  a  grene  mede, 

Ther  as  that  swetnesse  evermore  y-now  is. 


On  every  bough  the  briddes  herde  I  singe    (190) 
With  voys  of  aungel  in  hir  armonye;3 

Of  instruments  of  strenges  in  accord    (197) 
Herde  I  so  pleye  a  ravisshing  swetnesse, 
That  god,  that  maker  is  of  al  and  lord, 
Ne  herde  never  beter,  as  I  gesse; 
Therwith  a  wind,  unnethe  hit  might  be  lesse, 
Made  in  the  leves  grene  a  noise  softe, 
Acordant  to  the  foules  songe  on-lofte.4 
The  air  of  that  place  so  attempre  was 
That  never  was  grevaunce  of  hoot  ne  cold ; 
Ther  wex  eek  every  holsom  spyce  and  gras. 

Under  a  tree  beside  a  well  the  poet  saw  Cupid  forge  his  arrows, 
while  women  danced  about,  In  the  sweet  green  garden  he 
saw  a  queen,  Nature,  fairer  than  any  other  creature,  in  whose 
presence  the  birds  held  their  parliament. 

i  Cf .  F.  Z,.,  11.  43-45.  3  Cf.  F.  L.,  1. 133. 

2  Cf .  F.  L.,  11.  31,  32.  *  Cf.  F.  L„  1. 112. 

300 


"The  Flower  and  the  Leaf"  21 

In  T.  C,  just  before  the  passage  quoted  in  relation  to  the 
fixing  of  time  by  reference  to  the  sun's  position  in  the  zodiac,1 
are  the  following  interesting  lines: 

In  May,  that  moder  is  of  monthes  glade, 
That  fresshe  floures,  blewe,  and  whyte,  and  rede, 
Ben  quike  agayn,  that  winter  dede  made,2 
And  ful  of  bawme  is  fletinge  every  mede. 

The  familiar  beginning  of  the  Prologue  to  C.  T.  presents 
many  details  similar  to  those  of  the  first  two  stanzas  of  F.  L. : 
the  astronomical  reference  already  discussed;  "Aprille  with  his 
shoures  sote;"  the  springing-up  of  flowers;  the  wholesomeness 
of  the  air,  and  so  forth.  In  other  parts  of  C.  T.  there  are  only  a 
few  passages  to  which  attention  need  be  called. 

It  is  on  a  May  morning  that  Palamon  and  Arcite  first  see 
Emily.     She  has  risen  before  dawn, 

For  May  wol  have  no  slogardye  a-night.    (A,  1042) 
The  sesoun  priketh  every  gentil  herte 
And  maketh  him  out  of  his  sleep  to  sterte, 
And  seith,  '  Arys,  and  do  thyn  observaunce.' 

So  she  walks  up  and  down  the  garden,  gathering  flowers 

To  make  a  sotil  gerland  for  hir  hede,     (1054) 
And  as  an  aungel  hevenly  she  song.3 

Again,  it  is  when  Arcite,  on  another  May  morning,  has  gone  into 
the  woods  to  "doon  his  observaunce"  and  to  make  himself  a  gar- 
land of  woodbine  or  hawthorn  leaves  (A,  1.  1508),  that  he  finds 
Palamon  in  hiding. 

More  important  than  either  of  the  passages  from  the  KnighVs 
Tale,  however,  is  the  description  of  May  Day  festivities  in  the 
Frankliii's    Tale.     These   took   place   on    the    "sixte    morwe    of 

May"4— 

Which  May  had  peynted  with  his  softe  shoures5 
This  gardin  ful  of  leves  and  of  floures; 
And  craft  of  mannes  hand  so  curiously 
Arrayed  hadde  this  gardin,  trewely, 
That  never  was  ther  gardin  of  swich  prys, 
But-if  it  were  the  verray  paradys.6 

i  P.  281  above.    T.  C,  II,  11.  50-53.  3Cf.  F.  L„  1. 133.  BCf. F.  L.,  1. 4. 

2  Cf.  F.  Z,.,  11. 11, 12.  *  C.  T.,  F,  11.  901  ff.  6Cf.  F.  L.,  1. 115. 

301 


22  George  L.  Marsh 

Th'odour  of  floures  and  the  fresshe  sighte 
Wolde  han  maad  any  herte  for  to  lighte1 
That  ever  was  born,  but-if  to  gret  siknesse, 
Or  to  gret  sorwe  helde  it  in  distresse; 
So  ful  it  was  of  beautee  with  plesaunce. 

Of  all  Chaucer's  poems,  however,  the  Prologue  to  L.  G.  W. 
is  most  important  in  relation  to  F.  L.  Its  mention  of  the  Orders 
of  the  Flower  and  the  Leaf  has  been  discussed.2  The  action  of 
the  Prologue  begins  with  the  rising  of  the  poet  before  daybreak, 
on  the  first  of  May,  in  order  to  see  his  favorite  flower,  the  daisy 
(B,  11.  104-8).     In  greeting  it  he  kneels 

Upon  the  smale  softe  swote  gras,3  (118) 
which  is  "embrouded"  with  fragrant  flowers.  The  earth  has  for- 
gotten his  "pore  estat  of  wintir"4  (11.  125,  126),  and  is  newly 
clad  in  green.  The  birds,  rejoicing  in  the  season  (1.  130),  sing 
welcome  to  summer  their  lord,  among  the  blossoming  branches  of 
the  trees.     All  is  so  delightful  that  the  poet  thinks  he  might 

Dvvellen  alwey,  the  joly  month  of  May,     (176) 
Withouten  sleep,  withouten  mete  or  drinke.5 

Amid  such  surroundings  he  sinks  down  among  the  daisies.  Then 
after  his  second  mention  of  the  strife  of  the  Flower  and  the  Leaf 
(in  text  B)  he  continues: 

And,  in  a  litel  herber  that  I  have,6     (203) 
That  benched  was  on  turves  fresshe  y-grave, 
I  bad  men  sholde  me  my  couche  make. 

When  he  had  gone  to  sleep  in  this  "herber,"  he  dreamed  that  as 
he  lay  in  a  meadow  gazing  at  his  beloved  flower,  he  saw  come 
walking  toward  him, 

The  god  of  love,  and  in  his  hande  a  quene,    (213) 
And  she  was  clad  in  real  habit  grene. 

She  wore  a  "fret  of  gold"  on  her  head,  surmounted  by  a  white 
crown  decorated  with  flowers;  so  that,  with  her  green  robe  and 
her  gold  and  white  headdress,  she  resembled  a  daisy,  stalk  and 
flower.  Behind  the  God  of  Love  came  a  company  of  ladies  who 
knelt  in  homage  to  the  flower. 

i  Cf.  F.  L.,  11.  38,  81-84.  8Cf.  F.  L.,  1.  52.  »Cf.  F.  £.,11. 120, 181. 

2 Chap,  i  above.  *Cf.  F.  L.,  11. 11,12.  ecf.  F.  L.,  11.  49-52. 

302 


"The  Flower  and  the  Leaf"  23 

John  Gower 
The  machinery  of  Gower's  voluminous  C.  A.  is  in  part  of  the 
kind  under  consideration.  After  wandering  in  a  wood  for  a  time 
one  day  in  May,  the  poet  finds  himself  in  a  "swote  grene  pleine,"1 
where  he  bewails  his  misfortunes  in  love.  The  King  and  Queen 
of  Love  appear,  and  after  some  talk  Venus  bids  the  poet  confess 
to  Genius,  her  clerk.  Then  follows  a  long  discourse  by  Genius 
on  the  seven  deadly  sins,  with  stories  illustrating  all  of  them, 
which  constitute  the  main  body  of  the  poem.  In  these  stories 
there  are  allusions  to  May  Day  customs,2  but  no  striking  similari- 
ties to  F.  L.  Finally  the  poet  prevails  upon  Genius  to  take  a 
letter  for  him  to  Venus  and  Cupid;  but  the  deities  do  not  look 
with  favor  upon  so  old  a  would-be  lover.  He  swoons  at  the  rebuff, 
and  has  a  vision  of  a  great  company  of  lovers  wearing  garlands  of 
leaves,  flowers,  and  pearls.3     There  is  a  sound  of  music,  such 

That  it  was  half  a  mannes  hele    (2484) 
So  glad  a  noise  for  to  hiere; 

and  members  of  the   company   dance  and  sing  joyfully.      The 
remainder  of  the  action  is  of  no  present  consequence. 

The  Cuckoo  and  the  Nightingale 
C.  N,  already  mentioned  a  number  of  times,4  presents  addi- 
tional points  of  interest.  The  poet  first  describes  the  power  of 
love,  which  is  felt  most  strongly  in  May,  when  the  songs  of  the 
birds  and  the  springing  of  leaves  and  flowers  cause  great  longing 
to  burn  in  the  heart.  Such  love-sickness,  even  in  so  "old  and 
unlusty"  a  person  as  this  poet,  has  made  him  sleepless  during 
"al  this  May."  At  last,  during  one  wakeful  night,  he  recalls  a 
saying  among  lovers: 

That  it  were  good  to  here  the  nightingale    (49) 
Rather  than  the  lewde  cukkow  singe. 

And  then  I  thoghte,  anon  as  it  was  day, 
I  wolde  go  som  whider  to  assay 5 

iBook  I,  1.  113.    References  are  to  G.  C.  Macaulay's  ed.  of  Gower's  Complete  Works, 
Vols.  II,  III  (Clarendon  Press,  1901). 

2 See  Books  1, 11.  2026  ff. ;  VI,  11. 1833  ff. 
3  Book  VIII,  11.  2457  ff .    Discussed  in  chap,  i  above. 
*  Pp.  155, 159, 163,  above.    Chaucerian  and  Other  Pieces,  pp.  347  ff . 
Cf.  F.  L.,  11.  39-42. 

303 


24  George  L.  Marsh 

If  that  I  might  a  nightingale  here; 
For  yet  had  I  non  herd  of  al  this  yere, 
And  hit  was  tho  the  thridde  night  of  May. 

Accordingly  at  daybreak  he  went  alone  into  a  wood  "fast  by," 
and  wandered  along  a  brook  till  he  came  to  the  fairest  land  he 
had  ever  seen. 

The  ground  was  grene,  y-poudred  with  daisye,     (63) 

The  floures  and  the  gras  y-lyke  hye, 

Al  grene  and  whyte;  was  nothing  elles  sene. 

He  sat  down  among  the  flowers  and  saw  the  birds  come  forth 

from  their  nests, 

so  joyful  of  the  dayes  light       (69) 
That  they  begonne  of  May  to  don  hir  houres ! 

The  stream  also  made  a  noise 

Accordaunt  with  the  briddes  armonye    (83) 

such  that 

Me  thoughte,  it  was  the  best[e]  melodye    (84) 

That  mighte  been  y-herd  of  any  mon.1 
Delighted  with  all   these  sights  and  sounds,  the  poet  fell  in  a 
"slomber  and    a   swow"    (1.    87),   in   which    he    heard   a   debat 
between  the  cuckoo  and  the  nightingale. 

Christine  de  Pisan 
A  number  of  the  poems  of  Christine  de  Pisan  present  inter- 
esting settings  or  machinery.2  For  example,  in  Le  Dit  de  la  Bose, 
which  has  been  mentioned3  in  connection  with  symbolic  orders, 
the  poet  represents  that  one  day  when  a  noble  company  saw 
assembled  at  the  palace  of  the  Duke  of  Orleans,  the  lady  Loyaute" 
appeared,  surrounded  by  a  company 

De  nymphes  et  de  pucelletes     (99) 
Atout  chappelles  de  fleurettes, 

who  seemed  to  have  just  come  from  paradise.  They  were  mes- 
sengers of  the  God  of  Love,  sent  to  form  the  Order  of  the  Rose. 
They  sang  so  sweetly 

Que  il  sembloit  a  leur  doulz  chant     (246) 
Qu'angelz  feussent  ou  droit  enchant 

iCf.  F.L.,  11.  130,  131. 

2  For  brief  descriptions  of  spring  see  CEuvres  poftiques,  ed.  Roy,  Soci6t6  des  Anciens 
Textes  Francais  (Paris,  1886-96),  Vol.  I,  pp.  35,  112,  236,  239,  etc. 

3Cbap.  i  above,  pp.  138, 139,  CEuvres pottiques,  Vol.  II,  pp.  29  ff. 

304 


"The  Flower  and  the  Leaf"  25 

Le  Debat  de  deux  Amans1  tells  of  a  joyful  company  that 
gathered  in  May  to  dance  and  make  merry  in  one  of  the  parks 
of  the  Duke  of  Orleans.  Alone  and  sad,  however,  the  poet  sat 
on  a  bench  at  one  side  watching  the  assembly,  till  two  gentle- 
men, one  a  woe-begone  knight  and  the  other  a  happy  young 
squire,  agreed  to  discuss  the  advantages  and  disadvantages  of 
love.  In  company  with  these  men  and  some  other  ladies,  the  poet 
proceeds  to  a  "bel  vergier"  where  the  debate  takes  place. 

Le  Livre  du  Dit  de  Poissy2  presents  a  very  elaborate  spring- 
time setting.  In  gay  April,  when  the  woods  grow  green  again, 
the  poet  rides  forth  to  see  her  daughter  at  the  convent  of  Poissy. 
In  company  with  her  are  many  ladies  and  gentlemen,  enjoying 
to  the  full  the  beauties  of  the  morning.  Vegetation  has  been 
freshened  by  the  dew;  nothing  on  earth  is  ugly.  Marguerites 
and  other  flowers  are  mentioned, 

dont  amant  et  amie    (107) 
Font  chappellez. 

Birds  sing  in  the  trees  and  bushes  under  the  leadership  of  the 
nightingale.  All  these  delights  could  not  fail  to  banish  grief. 
On  their  journey,  the  company  enter  a  pleasant  forest, 

Et  la  forest  espesse  que  moult  pris     (185) 
Reverdissoit  si  qu'en  hault  furent  pris 
L'un  a  1 'autre  les  arbres  qui  repris 

Sont,  et  plants 
Moult  pr&s  a  pr&s  li  chaine  a  grant  plants 
Hault,  grant  et  bel,  non  rnie  en  orphant6, 
Ce  scevent  ceulz  qui  le  lieu  ont  hant6, 

Si  que  soleil 
Ne  peut  ferir  a  terre  a  nul  recueil. 
Et  Terbe  vert,  fresche  et  belle  a  mon  vueil, 
Est  par  dessoubz,  n'eon  ne  peut  veoir  d'ueil 

Plus  belle  place. 

At  the  convent  where  the  poet's  daughter  lives  they  find  it  like  a 
"droit  paradis  terrestre"  (1.  382).  The  latter  part  of  the  poem 
presents  a  "debat  amoureux"  with  which  we  have  no  present 
concern. 

1  CEuvres  poitiques,  Vol.  II,  pp.  49  ff.  2  Ibid.,  pp.  159  if. 

305 


26  George  L.  Marsh 

In  Christine's  Livre  du  Due  des  Vrais  Amans,1  the  hero,  a 
young  duke  ripe  for  love,  while  out  hunting  one  day,  enters  on  a 
paved  road  that  leads  to  a  castle  where  a  great  company  of  people 
are  disporting  about  their  princess.  As  the  duke  and  his  com- 
panions draw  near  the  castle,  they  are  met  by  a  "grant  route"  of 
ladies  (1.  134) ,  who  welcome  them  most  hospitably.  The  princess 
accompanies  them  to  "un  prael  verdoyant"  (1.  179),  where  she 
and  the  duke  sit  and  talk  beneath  a  willow  beside  a  little  stream. 
He  falls  in  love  with  her,  and  henceforth  his  chief  occupation  is 
planning  means  of  seeing  her  often.  He  invites  her  to  a  feast 
and  joust,  to  be  held  in  a  "praerie  cointe"  where  there  are  "her- 
barges"  and  "eschauffaulz"  and  "paveillons"  (11.  649,  653-55). 
In  the  evening  the  lady  arrives  with  a  noble  company,  including 
Menestrelz,  trompes,  naquaires,    (665) 


Qui  si  haultement  cournoyent 
Que  mons  et  vaulz  resonnoyent. 

The  festivities  held  in  her  honor  last  several  days  and  are  very 
elaborately  described.  The  jousts  held  are  of  special  interest, 
because  of  the  use  of  white  and  green  costumes.2  The  remainder 
of  the  poem  deals  with  the  way  in  which  this  lady  and  the  duke 
deceived  her  "jaloux"  for  a  number  of  years. 

John  Ltdgate 

The  work  of  Lydgate  is  of  the  utmost  importance  in  relation 
to  F.  L.,  not  only  because  he  was  the  most  important  imitator  of 
Chaucer  during  the  period  when  our  poem  was  probably  written, 
but  also  because  a  number  of  his  early  works,  whether  original  or 
translated,  contain  passages  strikingly  similar  to  portions  of  F.  L. 
Discussion  of  his  works  will  be  approximately  in  chronological 
order.3 

The  main  part  of  C.  B.*  begins  with  a  description  of  the 
"chorleV  garden.     It  was 

Hegged  and  dyked  to  make  it  sure  and  strong; 


The  benches  turned5  with  newe  turvis  grene; 

1  CEuvres  poitiques,  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  59  ff.  2  Pp.  152,  153,  164,  above. 

3  Following  §11,  chap,  viii,  of  Schick's  Introduction  to  T.  G.;  E.  E.  T.  S.,  1891. 
*  M.  P.,  ed.  Halliwoll,  pp.  179  ff .    Citations  are  from  pp.  181, 182. 
6  This  should  be  "  turved." 

306 


"The  Flower  and  the  Leaf"  27 

and  there  were  "sote  herbers."     Further: 

Amyddis  the  gardeyn  stode  a  fressh  lawrer, 

Theron  a  bird  syngyng  bothe  day  and  nyghte, 

With  shynnyng  fedres  brightar  than  the  golde  weere, 

Whiche  with  hir  song  made  hevy  hertes  lighte, 

That  to  beholde  it  was  an  hevenly  sighte, 

How  toward  evyn  and  in  the  dawnyng, 

She  ded  her  payne  most  amourously  to  synge. 


It  was  a  verray  hevenly  melodye, 

Evyne  and  morowe  to  here  the  byrddis  songe, 

And  the  soote  sugred  armonye. 

Lydgate's  B.  K.  has  already  been  mentioned.1  After  fixing 
the  time  very  much  as  it  is  fixed  in  F.  L.,  the  poet  tells  us  that 
he  awoke  early  and  went,  in  the  hope  of  finding  solace  for  his 

sorrow, 

Into  the  wode,  to  here  the  briddes  singe,2    (23) 
Whan  that  the  misty  vapour  was  agoon 
And  clere  and  faire  was  the  morowning. 

On  the  leaves  and  flowers  he  found  dew  sweet  as  balm.      Passing 
along  a  clear  stream  he  came  to 

a  litel  wey3    (38) 
Toward  a  park,  enclosed  with  a  wal 
In  cOmpas  rounde,  and  by  a  gate  smal 
Who-so  that  wolde  frely  mighte  goon 
Into  this  park,  walled  with  grene  stoon. 

He  went  into  the  park  and  there  heard  the  birds  sing 

So  loude  ....  that  al  the  wode  rong4    (45) 
Lyke  as  it  shulde  shiver  in  peces  smale; 
And,  as  me  thoughte,  that  the  nightingale 
With  so  gret  mighte  her  voys  gan  out-wreste 
Right  as  her  herte  for  love  wolde  breste. 

The  soil  was  playn,  smothe,  and  wonder  softe 
Al  oversprad  with  tapites  that  Nature 
Had  mad  her-selve,  celured  eek  alofte 
With  bowes  grene,  the  floures  for  to  cure, 
That  in  hir  beaute  they  may  longe  endure 
From  al  assaut  of  Phebus  fervent  fere, 
Whiche  in  his  spere  so  hote  shoon  and  clere. 

1  Chaucerian  and  Other  Pieces,  pp.  245  ff . 

2  Cf.  F.  L„  1.  37.  3Cf.  F.  L„  1.  43.  « Cf.  F.  L.,  11.  99, 100. 

307 


28  George  L.  Marsh 

The  air  was  "attempre,"  and  gentle  zephyrs  blew,  so  wholesomely 
that  buds  and  blossoms  delighted  in  the  hope  of  bringing  forth 
fruit.     Among  the  trees  in  the  park  were  "grene  laurer," 

the  fresshe  hawethorn    (71) 
In  whyte  motle,  that  so  swote  doth  smelle; 

the  oak,  and  many  others.  In  the  midst  was  a  spring  surrounded 
by  young  grass  "softe  as  veluet."     Its  waters  had  magic  power  to 

aswage1    (100) 
Bollen  hertes,  and  the  venim  perce 
Of  pensifheed. 

The  poet  took  a  long  draught  of  this  water,  and  forthwith  was  so 
much  refreshed  and  eased  of  his  pain  that  he  started  out  to  see 
more  of  the  park.     As  he  went  through  a  glade  he  came  to 
a  delitable  place    (122) 


Amidde  of  whiche  stood  an  herber  grene2 
That  benched  was,  with  colours  newe  and  clene. 

This  arbor  was  full  of  flowers,  among  which,  between  a  holly  and 
a  woodbine,  lay  a  black-clad  knight,  To  his  complaint,  which 
forms  the  burden  of  the  poem,  the  poet  listened  from  a  hiding- 
place  among  some  bushes.3 

The  time  of  T.   G*  is  December,  not  spring;  but  the  poem 
begins  with  an  astronomical  reference.     After  a  long  period  of 
restlessness,  the  poet  suddenly  falls  asleep  and  is 
Rauysshid  in  spirit  in  [a]  temple  of  glas.     (16) 

The  place  is  "circulere  in  compaswise"  (11.  36,  37),  and  there  is 
a  wicket  by  which  to  enter.  Within  the  poet  sees  pictures  of 
many  famous  lovers.  Before  a  statue  of  Venus  kneels  the  most 
beauteous  of  ladies, 

al  clad  in  grene  and  white    (299) 


Enbrouded  al  with  stones  &  perre. 

1  Cf.  F.  L.,  11.  81-84.  2  Cf.  F.  L.,  11.  49-51. 

3  Sandras  (Mude  sur  Chaucer,  p.  80)  declared  that  B.  K.  is  an  imitation  of  Froissart's 
Dit  dou  bleu  chevalier  (Poisies,  ed.  Scheler,  Vol.  I,  pp.  348  ff.).  In  general  plan,  it  is  true, 
the  poems  are  similar,  both  to  each  other  and  to  Chaucer's  B.  D.  In  details,  however,  B.  K. 
is  much  more  like  F.  L.  than  is  Froissart's  poem. 

*  Ed.  Schick,  E.  E.  T.  S. 

308 


"The  Flower  and  the  Leaf"  29 

She  presents  a  "litel  bil"  to  the  goddess,  and  vows  service  in 
return  for  the  latter's  favor.  She  is  given  white  and  green 
branches  of  hawthorn  for  a  chaplet  and  advised  to  be  "unchan- 
ging like  these  leaves."1     Finally, 

with  Pe  noise  and  heuenli  melodie    (1362) 
Which  fat  Pei  [the  birds]  made  in  her  armonye, 
the  author  awoke,  and  resolved  for  love  of  his  lady  to  write  his 
"litel  rude  boke." 

Lydgate's  Thebes2  is  frankly  on  the  model  of  Chaucer's 
Knighfs  Tale,  and  therefore  can  have  no  close  resemblance  to 
F.  L.  in  plan;  yet  in  many  details  it  repays  examination.  Its 
Prologue  begins  with  a  rather  elaborate  astronomical  reference : 

Whan  bright  Phebus  passed  was  the  Kam 
Midde  of  Aprill,  and  into  the  Bull  came, 


Whan  that  Flora  the  noble  mighty  queene 

The  soile  hath  clad  in  new  tender  greene. 
At  this  time  Lydgate  says  he  encountered  a  company  of  Canter- 
bury pilgrims  and  agreed  to  tell  them  a  tale.     The  tale  does  not 
concern  us,  but  at  the  beginning  of  its  second  part  there  is  an- 
other bit  of  description  of  spring,  including  the  following  line: 

And  right  attempre  was  the  hoi  some  aire.3 
Later,  as  Tideus,  returning  from  Thebes,  wounded  after  a  combat 
with   fifty   knights,   comes   into   "Ligurgus  lond,"   he   enters   a 
garden  "by  a  gate  small," 

And  there  he  found,  for  to  reken  all, 

A  lusty  erber,  vnto  his  deuise, 

Sweet  and  fresh,  like  a  paradise. 
Here  he  lay  down  on  the  grass  and  slept  till  awakened  by  the  lark 
when  "Phebus"  rose  the  next  day.  And  "Ligurgus"  daughter, 
who  every  morning  came  to  the  garden  "for  holesomnes  of  aire," 
found  him  and  had  his  wounds  cared  for.  In  Part  III,  as  Tideus 
and  Campaneus  ride  about  looking  for  water  during  a  terrible 
drought,  they  enter  by  chance  "an  herbere," 

i  As  already  noted,  p.  138  above. 

^Examined  in  Chalmers'  English  Poets,  Vol.  I,  pp.  570  S.  This  poem  was  written  later 
than  R.  S.,  but  is  mentioned  out  of  chronological  order  that  the  discussion  of  Lydgate  may 
end  with  R.  S. 

3Cf.  F.  L.,  1.  6. 

309 


30  George  L.  Marsh 

With  trees  shadowed  fro  the  Sunne  shene, 

Ful  of  floures,  and  of  hearbes  grene, 

Wonder  holsome  of  sight  and  aire, 

Therein  a  lady,  that  passingly  was  faire, 

Sitting  as  tho  vnder  a  laurer  tree. 
She  leads  them  to  a  river  where  they  quench  their  thirst. 

The  most  important  of  Lydgate's  poems  in  connection  with 
F.  L.,  however,  is  R.  S.,  "compyled"  from  the  French  Echecs 
Amoureux,  a  voluminous  fourteenth-century  imitation  of  R.  R.1 
After  an  address  to  the  reader,  the  poet  presents  an  elaborate 
description  of  spring2  in  which  we  find  nearly  all  the  oft-repeated 
details.  Spring  clothes  all  the  earth  "with  newe  apparayle;" 
causes  "herbes  white  and  rede"  to  blossom  in  the  meadows; 
makes  the  air  "attempre,"  and  rejoices  all  hearts.  On  such  a 
spring  morning  the  poet  lies  awake,  "ententyf  for  to  here"  the 
birds'  songs,  when  suddenly  Dame  Nature  appears  to  him  (1.  206). 
She  reproves  him  for  wasting  time  in  bed, 

Whan  Phebus  with  his  bemys  bryght     (450) 

Ys  reysed  vp  so  hygh  alofte,3 
and  the  birds  are  "syngyng  ther  hourys."  She  advises  him  to 
go  out  into  the  world  "and  see  if  anywhere  her  work  fails  in 
beauty."4  In  response  to  his  inquiry  as  to  the  way  he  should  take, 
she  suggests  the  eastern  way  of  Reason  rather  than  the  western  way 
of  Sensuality.5  After  her  sermon  Dame  Nature  leaves  him,  and  he 
rises.  When  he  is  "clad  and  redy  eke  in  [his]  array"  (11.  910, 
911),  he  goes  forth  into  a  "felde  ful  large  and  pleyn," 

Couered  with  flour[e]s  fressh  and  grene    (919) 

By  vertu  of  the  lusty  quene, 

Callyd  Flora,  the  goddesse. 

It  is  so  delightful  that  he  forgets  past  events. 

After  a  time  he  sees  a  path  in  which  walk  a  company  of  four — 
Pallas,  Juno,  Venus,  and  Mercury.  He  is  reminded  of  the  history 
of  each,  and  describes  each  at  great  length.     Juno's  clothing  is 

i  R.  S.,  Pd.  E.  Sieper,  E.  E.  T.  S.,  1901,  1903.  See  also  Sieper's  "Les  Echecs  Amoureux, 
eiue  altfranzosische  Nachahmung  des  Rosenromans  und  ihre  englischeUebertragung;"  Lit- 
tcrarliistorische  Forschungen,  IX.  Heft  (Weimar,  1898). 

2  LI.  87  ff.  3Cf.F.  L.,  11.  1,  2. 

*  Quoted  from  the  marginal  summary  in  Sieper's  edition,  Part  I,  p.  15. 

5  A  resemblance  to  the  allegory  of  F.  L.  has  been  noted,  chap,  i  above. 

310 


"The  Flower  and  the  Leaf"  31 

Fret  f ul  of  ryche  stonys  ynde l     (1400) 
Venus,  as  already  noticed,2  wears  a  chaplet  of  roses.     Mercury 
carries  a  flute,  of  which  "the  sugred  armonye"  has  more  effect 
than  sirens'  songs.     Seeing  them  come  toward  him  the  author 

Ful  humblely  gan  hem  salewe.3  (1838) 
Mercury  tells  him  of  the  golden  apple  and  asks  him  to  award  it. 
He  gives  it  to  Venus  and  agrees  to  be  her  "  lyge  man"  (1.  2352). 
She  tells  him  of  her  sons — Deduit,  expert  in  music,  dancing,  and 
games;  and  Cupid,  the  God  of  Love  —  and  of  the  "erber  grene" 
(1.  2538)  of  Deduit,  the  beauty  of  which  may  be  compared  to 
that  of  paradise.  In  this  garden  he  will  find  a  lovely  maiden, 
but  he  must  first  know  Ydelnesse,  the  porter.4 

Finally  Venus  departs  and  the  author  enters  a  great  forest 
"ryght  as  a  lyne," 

Ful  of  trees,     ....    (2729) 
Massiffe  and  grete  and  evene  vpryght 
As  any  lyne  vp  to  the  toppys,5 
As  compas  rounde  the  fresshe  croppis, 
That  yaf  good  air  with  gret  suetnesse 
Whos  fressh  beaute  and  grenesse 
Ne  fade  neuer  in  hoote  ne  colde, 
Nouther  Sere,  nor  waxen  olde, 


The  levis  be  so  perdurable. 

The  plain  about  the  forest  is  "tapited"  with  herbs  and  flowers. 

In  the  forest  under  an  ebony  tree  he  finds  Diana,   who  makes 

clear  to  him  her  rivalry  with  Venus.6     But  in  spite  of  Diana's 

long  account  of  the  dangers  that  lurk  in  the  garden  of  Deduit, 

and  her  eagerness  to   have  the   poet   remain  in  her  "forest   of 

chaste te,"  where  ,4„-„v 

the  tren  in  ech  seson     (4372) 

Geyn  al  assaut  of  stormes  kene 

Of  fruyt  and  lefe  ben  al-way  grene, 

he  prefers  to  see  the  beauty  of  the  world  and  keep  his  vow  to 
Venus. 

After  a  time  he  comes  to  the  "herber"  he  is  seeking.     On  the 
walls  are  pictures  resembling  those  described  in  R.  R.     He  is 

i  Cf.  F.  L.,  11. 152, 153.  *  As  in  R.  B.    See  above. 

2  Chap,  ii  above.  5  Cf .  F.  L„  11.  29,  30. 

3Cf.  F.  L.,  11.  460,  461.  6 Discussed  in  chap,  ii,  p.  141,  above. 

311 


32  George  L.  Marsh 

admitted  by  Ydelnesse  and  kindly  greeted  by  Curtesye,  who  tells 
him  the  garden  is  intended  only  for  sport  and  play  and  whatever 
may  be  "to  hertys  ese."  He  is  "ravisshed"  by  the  beauty,  the 
"holsom  ayr,"  the  sweetness.  There  are  herbs  that  would  cure 
every  malady,  "freshe  welle  springis,"  nightingales  singing 
"aungelyke"  in  the  trees — everything,  in  fact,  is  so  beautiful 

That  there  is  no  man  in  hys  wyt    (5217) 

The  which  koude  ha  levyd  yt 

Nor  deinyd  yt  in  his  entent, 

But  yif  he  had[de]  be  present. 

Looking  about  the  place  he  sees 

Deduit  and  Cupide    (5232) 
With  her  folkys  a  gret  Route, 

By  hem  self|e]  tweyn  and  tweyn, 
Ful  besely  to  don  her  peyn 
Hem  to  play  and  to  solace. 


In  karol  wise  I  saugh  hem  goon,     (5245) 

And  formhest  of  hem  euerychoon 

I  saugh  Deduit,  and  on  his  honde, 

Confedred  by  a  maner  bonde, 

Ther  went  a  lady  in  sothnesse, 

And  hir  name  was  gladnesse. 
Next  comes  a  long  description  of  Cupid,  with  his  two  bows  and 
ten  arrows.     He  and  his  train  go 

Euerych  vpou  others  honde,     (5534) 

Ay  to  gedre  tweyn  and  tweyn,1 
They  have  all  sorts  of  musical  instruments  and  dance  and  sing 
beautifully.  After  a  time  the  poet  plays  a  game  of  chess  with 
the  beautiful  maiden  whom  he  seeks.  In  the  midst  of  a  long, 
allegorical,  satirical  description  of  the  pieces,  the  translation 
breaks  off  at  line  7042. 

On  the  whole  the  resemblances  between  R.  S.  and  F.  L.  are 
so  varied  and  so  striking,  in  both  thought  and  form,  that  it  seems 
impossible  to  doubt  that  Lydgate's  poem  or  its  original  (and  of 
course  more  likely  the  former)  was  familiar  to  our  author.2 

iCt.F.L.,  1.295. 

2  In  other  poems  of  Lydgate,  especially  in  M.  P.,  there  are  details  resembling  various 
parts  of  F.  L.;  but  I  have  indicated  the  most  important  parallels. 

312 


"The  Flower  and  the  Leaf"  33 

Alain  Chartier 
Le  Livre  des  quatre  Dames,1  "compile  par  Maistre  Alain 
Chartier,"  apparently  not  long  after  the  battle  of  Agincourt, 
begins  with  a  very  elaborate  description  of  the  conventional 
spring  setting.  On  the  pleasant  morning  of  the  first  day  of 
spring  the  poet  goes  forth  into  the  fields  in  the  hope  of  banish- 
ing his  melancholy.     He  says: 

Merchai  l'herbe  poignant  menue, 
Qui  mit  mon  cueur  hors  de  soucy, 
Lequel  auoit  est6  transsy 
Long  temps  par  liesse  perdue. 

Tout  autour  oiseaulx  voletoient, 
Et  si  tres-doulcement  chantoient, 
Qu'il  n'est  cueur  qui  n'en  fust  ioyeulx.2 

He  stopped  in  a  "pourpris"  of  trees,  thinking  about  his  miser- 
able fortune  in  love  and  watching  a  brook  that  ran  beside  a 

pr6  gracieux,  ou  nature 
Sema  les  fleurs  sur  la  verdure, 
Blanches,  iaunes,  rouges  &  perses. 
D'arbes  flouriz  fut  la  ceinture. 

Near  by  was  a  mountain  with  a  very  beautiful  grove  on  its  slope. 
The  poet  aimlessly  took  a  path, 

Longue  &  estroite,  ou  l'herbe  tendre 
Croissoit  tres-drue,  &  vng  pou  mendre 3 
Que  celle  qui  fut  tout  autour. 

With  the  people  whom  he  met  along  this  path  we  have  here  no 
concern. 

Chartier's  La  Belle  Dame  sans  Mercy  may  be  examined  most 
conveniently  in  the  English  version  once  attributed  to  Chaucer, 
but  in  reality  by  Sir  Richard  Ros.4  The  translator  represents 
that,  "half  in  a  dreme"  and  burdened  with  his  task  of  translation, 
he  rose  and  made  his  way  to  a  "lusty  green  valey  ful  of  floures," 
where  he  managed  to  accomplish  his  work.  The  original  poet 
tells  of  riding  a  long  time,  until  he  hears  music  in  a  garden  and 
is  welcomed  by  a  party  of  banqueters.     Among  them  is  a  woe- 

1  (Euvres,  ed.  Du  Chesne,  Paris,  1617,  pp.  594  ff. 

2Cf.  F.  L„  1.  38.  3Cf.  F.  L„  1.  52. 

i  Chaucerian  and  Other  Pieces,  pp.  299  ff . 

313 


34  George  L.  Marsh 

begone  knight  who  has  eyes  for  but  one  lady.  After  dinner  there 
is  dancing;  but  the  poet  has  no  heart  for  it  and  sits  alone, 

behynd  a  trayle    (184) 
Ful  of  leves,  to  see,  a  greet  mervayle, 
With  grene  withies  y-bounden  wonderly; 
The  leves  were  so  thik,  withouten  fayle, 
That  thorough-out  might  no  man  me  espy.1 

From  this  hiding-place  he  sees  the  sorrowful  knight  dance  with 
his  lady  and  then  withdraw  to  "an  herber  made  ful  pleasauntly," 
where  follows  a  long  discussion  of  no  interest  in  this  study. 

Charles  d'Orleans  and  Other  Lyric  Poets 

Among  the  works  of  Charles  d' Orleans,  whose  ballades  on  the 
Orders  of  the  Flower  and  the  Leaf  have  been  cited,2  there  is  no 
long  poem  presenting  a  setting  or  machinery  similar  to  that  of 
F.  L.j  but  scattered  here  and  there  with  considerable  frequency 
are  allusions  to  such  common  topics  as  the  sleeplessness  of  lovers,3 
the  joy  that  comes  in  spring,  especially  to  lovers,4  the  revival  of 
plant  life,5  the  songs  of  the  birds,6  and  May  Day  customs  in 
general.7 

The  same  is  true  of  such  collections  of  lyric  poetry  as  Gaston 
Paris'  Chansons  du  XVe  sidcle.9  Often  the  poets  represent 
themselves  as  rising  before  dawn — sometimes  owing  to  sleepless- 
ness caused  by  love — and  entering  some  beautiful  garden  or 
meadow,  in  which  they  find  their  ladies,  or  pluck  flowers,  or  listen 
to  the  birds.  Some  of  these  poems  are  pasiourelles  of  the  type 
already  described.9  Others  worth  special  mention  are  numbers 
xlix  and  lxx.  Scheler's  collection  from  the  Trouveres  beiges™  and 
Tarb6's  from  the  Chansonniers  de  Chaynpagne11  include  similar 
poems;  as,  indeed,  do  other  collections  of  lyric  poetry. 

i  Cf.  F.  L.,  11.  67-70.  2 chap,  i  above. 

3Po««t'e8,  ed  d'Hericault,  Vols.  I,  p.  21;  II,  p.  5,  etc. 

*Ibid.,  I,  pp.  31,  65,  148,  218;  II,  pp.  10,  114,  etc. 

5 Ibid.,  II,  pp.  48, 114,  etc.  »Ibid.,  I,  p.  65;  II,  p.  115,  etc. 

Ubid.,  I,  pp.  65,  79;  II,  pp.  94, 122,  214,  etc. 

8  Societe  des  Anciens  Textes  Francais,  1875.  9  P.  283  above. 

"Pp.  35, 147;  nouvelle  serie,  p.  4. 

ii  Pp.  26,  92. 

314 


"The  Flower  and  the  Leaf"  35 

Le  Debat  do  Coer  et  de  l'Oeil 
In  the  fifteenth-century  French  amplification  of  the  Latin  Dis- 
putatio  inter  cor  et  oculum,1  there  is  a  good  deal  of  machinery 
corresponding  in  an  interesting  way  to  that  of  F.  L.  One  May 
Day  the  poet  goes  out  to  hunt.  Hearing  feminine  voices,  he  dis- 
mounts and  is  soon  graciously  greeted  by  a  number  of  ladies  who 
come  from  the  forest,  wearing  chaplets  of  flowers,  and  singing 
with  such  sweetness  that  their  song  would  have  given  new  life  to 
a  heart  immeasurably  troubled.  This  company  soon  withdraw, 
but  the  knight  is  moved  to  search  especially  for  one  of  them,  who 
seemed  to  him  like  an  angel.  During  his  search  he  sees,  under  a 
pine  beside  a  fountain,  a  great  number  of  women,  accompanied 
by  gentlemen  well  arrayed.  Two  of  these  gentlemen  invite  him 
to  join  the  ladies ;  but,  unable  to  find  his  beloved  in  the  company, 
he  falls  asleep  beneath  the  tree,  and  dreams  of  a  debate  between 
his  heart  and  his  eye.  After  fruitless  argument,  it  is  agreed  that 
the  controversy  shall  be  settled  by  single  combat  before  Amours. 
Very  rich  preparations  are  made,  with  lavish  use  of  precious 
stones.  The  company  of  Eye  are  clad  in  green  "pervenche."2 
Heart  has  a  seat  of  eglantine  in  his  pavilion.  Certain  "escoutes," 
armed  with  marguerites,  are  to  give  the  champions 

De  vert  lorier  lancb.es  petites. 
Further  details  are  of  no  consequence  in  this  place. 

The  King's  Quair 
The  much-admired  poem  long  attributed  to  King  James  I 
of  Scotland3  begins  with  a  fixing  of  the  time  by  astronomical 
reference.  After  passing  a  sleepless  night — "can  I  noght  say 
quharfore" — the  poet  decides  to  tell  in  verse  his  own  story.  He 
hurries  rapidly  over  his  voyage,  his  shipwreck,  his  imprisonment 
by  the  English,  till  one  spring  day  when,  as  he  looks  out  of  his 
prison  window,  he  sees — 

1  Latin  Poems  Commonly  Attributed  to  Walter  Mapes,  ed.  T.  Wright  (Camden  Society, 
1841);  Appendix,  pp.  310  ff.  The  English  version  mentioned  by  Warton  (History  of  English 
Poetry,  ed.  Hazlitt,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  167)  and  by  Wright  (note,  pp.  xxiii,  xxiv,  in  edition  of  Mapes), 
I  have  not  seea.  I  understand  it  is  soon  to  be  printed  by  Dr.  Eleanor  P.  Hammond.  The 
Latin  original  is  of  no  consequence  in  this  study,  because  it  does  not  present  the  setting  and 
machinery  of  the  French  debat. 

2  A  fact  which  should  have  been  noted  in  chap,  ii  above,  p.  150. 
*The  Kingis  Quair,  ed.  Skeat;  S.  T.  S.,  1884. 

315 


36  GrEORGE    L.    MARSH 

maid  fast  by  the  touris  wall    (stanza  31) 
A  gardyn  faire,  and  in  the  corneris  set 
Ane  herbere  grene,  with  wandis  long  and  small 
Railit  about;  and  so  with  treis  set 
Was  all  the  place,  and  hawthorn  hegis  knet, 
That  lyf  was  non  walking  there  forby, 
That  myght  within  scarse  ony  wight  aspye.1 


And  on  the  small(e)  grene  twistis  sat    (33) 

The  lytill  suete  nyghtingale,  and  song 
So  loud  and  clere,  the  ympnis  consecrat 

Off  lufis  vse. 

After  listening  to  the  bird's  songs  awhile  and  meditating  on  them, 
the  poet  sees  walking  in  the  garden  (very  much  as  Palamon  and 
Arcite  saw  Emily) 

The  fairest  or  the  freschest  3ong(e)  floure    (40) 
That  euer  I  sawe. 

He  at  once  vows  service  to  Venus,  and  bewails  his  plight  when 
the  lady  leaves  the  garden.     Finally,  after 

Phebus  endit  had  his  bemes  bryght,    (72) 
And  bad  go  farewele  euery  lef  and  floure, 

he  falls  asleep,  and  is  carried  in  dreams  to  the  palace  of  Venus. 
Here  he  sees  "a  warld  of  folk."     A  voice  explains  who  they  are — 

the  folke  that  neuer  change  wold    (83) 
In  lufe;2  .... 
....  the  princis,  faucht  the  grete  batailis;    (85) 

and  others  who  served  love  in  any  way.  Cupid  is  there,  and 
Venus,  wearing  a  chaplet  of  roses.  Venus  agrees  to  help  the 
poet  in  his  suit.     Her  tears  cause  the  flowers  to  grow, 

That  preyen  men  ....     (117) 

Be  trewe  of  lufe,  and  worschip  my  seruise. 

Hence  it  is  that, 

Quhen  flouris  springis,  and  freschest  bene  of  hewe,    (119) 

And  that  the  birdis  on  the  twistis  sing, 
At  thilke  tyme  ay  gynnen  folk  renewe 
That  seruis  vnto  loue. 

1  Cf .  F.  L.,  11.  67-70.  2  Cf.  F.  L.,  11.  485-87. 

316 


"The  Flower  and  the  Leaf"  37 

The  further  wanderings  of  the  poet  are   of   no  consequence  in 
relation  to  F.  L.1 

Later  Poems — English  and  Scottish 

Thus  far  we  have  been  examining  works  which  were,  either 
certainly  or  possibly,  early  enough  to  have  influenced  the  author 
of  our  poem.  It  now  seems  desirable  to  add  very  brief  mention 
of  several  later  works  that  present  similar  features— that  belong, 
in  a  sense,  to  the  school  of  F.  L. 

Professor  Skeat  has  made  much  of  such  resemblances  as  there 
are  between  F.  L.  and  A.  L.;2  but  in  reality  they  are  not  very 
numerous  or  striking,  being  mostly  in  the  commonplaces  of 
Chaucerian  imitation.  A.  L.  belongs  much  more  definitely  than 
F.  L.  to  the  Court  of  Love  group.3  The  time  is  September,  not 
spring;  but  there  is  an  "herber"  of  the  usual  sort,  and  a  company 
of  ladies.     The  action  in  no  way  resembles  that  of  F.  L. 

Chaucer's  Dream,  or  The  Isle  of  Ladies,  as  Professor  Skeat 
prefers  to  call  it,4  is  also  in  part  a  Court  of  Love  poem.  A  "world 
of  ladies"  appear  with  their  knights  before  the  Lord  of  Love,  who 
is  "all  in  floures."     A  good  many  details  are  reminiscent  of  F.  L. 

Various  points  of  resemblance  between  F.  L.  and  C.  L.5  have 
been  pointed  out  in  chap,  ii  above.  Still  more  might  be  added, 
if  minute  attention  were  paid  to  details  in  imitation  of  Chaucer ; 
but  there  is  no  important  similarity  between  the  two  poems  in  the 
matter  of  setting  and  machinery. 

The  Scottish  Lancelot  of  the  Laik6  is  of  some  interest  as 
showing  how  the  conventional  setting  of  love  allegory  was  some- 
times taken  over  into  other  kinds  of  poetry.  The  poet  tells  of 
coming,  one  spring  day,  to  a  garden,  which  was 

1  The  resemblances  noted  above,  and  in  Mr.  Henry  Wood's  article  on  "  Chaucer's  Influ- 
ence on  James  I,"  Anglia,  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  223  ff.,  seem  to  indicate  that  the  author  of  The  King's 
Quair  knew  F.  L.,  and  was  directly  alluding  to  it.  If  this  is  true,  and  James  I  was  the 
author  of  the  Scottish  poem  (an  undecided  question),  F.  L.  must  be  dated  earlier  than  Pro- 
fessor Skeat  inclines  to  date  it. 

2  Chaucerian  and  Other  Pieces,  pp.  380-404  (text),lxix,lxx  (Introduction), 535-38  (notes). 

3  As  stated  by  Neilson,  Harvard  Studies,  Vol.  VI,  p.  150. 

*  Chaucerian  and  Other  Pieces,  pp.  xiv,  xv.  Text  consulted,  Chalmers'  English  Poets, 
Vol.  I,  pp.  378  ff. 

5  Chaucerian  and  Other  Pieces,  pp.  409  ff. 

6  Ed.  Skeat,  E.  E.  T.  S.  (1865). 

317 


38  George  L.  Marsh 

al  about  enweronyt  and  Iclosit     (53) 
One  sich  o  wyss,  that  none  within  supposit 
Fore  to  be  sen  with  ony  vicht  thare  owt;1 
So  dide  the  levis  clos  it  all  about. 

There  he  falls  asleep,  and  has  a  dream  that  causes  him  to  write 
the  story  of  Lancelot.  Other  details  besides  those  about  the 
garden  indicate  that  the  author  knew  F.  L.2 

Several  of  Dunbar's  poems  present  interesting  features.  The 
Goldyn  Targe3  has  the  spring  setting,  with  a  vision  of  a  hundred 
ladies  in  green  kirtles,  including  Venus  and  Flora,  followed  by 
"ane  othir  court,"  headed  by  Cupid  and  also  arrayed  in  green. 
In  The  Thistle  and  the  Rose*  the  poet  is  awakened  early  by  May, 
"in  brycht  atteir  of  flouris,"  and  follows  her  to  a  garden  where 
there  is  an  assembly  of  beasts  and  birds  and  flowers.5  The  Merle 
and  the  Nightingale5  is  a  debat  somewhat  resembling  C.  N.,  with 
a  similar  May  setting.  The  Tua  Mariit  Wemen  and  the  Wedo1 
is  also  worth  mention  for  its  descriptions  of  spring. 

Gavin  Douglas,  like  the  others  of  the  Scottish  school  of  Chau- 
cer, seems  to  have  known  F.  L.  as  well  as  the  genuine  works  of 
his  master.8  The  Palice  of  Honour9  begins  with  the  rising  of 
the  poet  one  day  in  May,  and  his  entrance  into  a  beautiful  gar- 
den, where  he  sees  a  great  company  of  ladies  and  gentlemen  on 
their  way  to  the  palace  of  Honour.  They  are  soon  followed  by 
the  courts  of  Diana  and  Venus,  the  latter  in  a  car  drawn  by  horses 
in  green  trappings.  She  is  accompanied  by  her  son  dressed  in 
green.10 

Sir  David  Lyndesay,  in  his  Testament  and  Complaynt  of  our 
Soverane  Lordis  Papyngo,n  tells  of  entering  his  "garth"  to  repose 

1  Cf.  F.  L.,  11.  66-70. 

2  See  especially  11.  335-42,  2088-93,  2471-87.  There  are  also  apparent  allusions  toL.  G.  W., 
as  in  1.  57. 

3  Poems  of  William  Dunbar,  ed.  J.  Small,  S.  T.  S.  (1893) ;  Vol.  II,  pp.  1  ff. 
*  Ibid.,  Vol.  II,  pp.  183  ff. 

5  Obviously  in  part  an  imitation  of  Chaucer's  P.  F. 

6  Poems,  Vol.  II,  pp.  174  ff.  ~>  Ibid.,  pp.  30  ff. 

8See  P.  Lange,  "  Chaucer's  Einfluss  auf  Douglas,"  Anglia,  Vol.  VI,  pp.  46  ff. 

9  Poetical  Works  of  Douglas,  ed.  J.  Small  (Edinburgh,  1874),  Vol.  I,  pp.  1  ff. 

10  This  example  of  tho  use  of  green,  together  with  that  given  above  from  Dunbar's  Goldyn 
Targe,  may  be  added  to  the  list  in  chap,  ii  above,  pp.  150, 151. 

"Poetical  Works  (E.  E.  T.  S.),  pp.  223  ff. 

318 


"The  Flower  and  the  Leaf"  39 

among  the  flowers.    There  is  the  usual  astronomical  reference  and 
the  usual  description  of  a  spring  landscape.     From  under 
ane  hauthorne  grene, 
Quhare  I  mycht  heir  and  se,  and  be  unsene, 
the  poet  hears  the  complaint  which  is  the  burden  of  his  work. 
Ane  Dialog  betuix  Experience  and  ane  Courteour  of  the  Misera- 
byll  Estait  of  the  World1  has  a  Prologue  telling  how  the  sleepless 
poet  fared  forth  into  a  park  one  May  morning  before  sunrise,  in 
the  hope  of  banishing  his  melancholy  by  hearing  the  birds  sing. 
He  met   an  old  man  who  made  a  long  recital  of  history.     The 
setting  of  The  Dreme  of  Schir  David  Lyndesay 2  is  also  of  some 
interest.3 

SUMMARY 

It  should  now  be  clear  that  most  of  the  elements  of  the  setting 
and  most  of  the  machinery  of  F.  L.  were  decidedly  conventional 
before  the  first  half  of  the  fifteenth  century.  The  spring  setting, 
with  almost  infinite  repetition  of  details,  is  found  in  the  earliest 
lyrics,  in  nearly  all  the  poems  of  the  Court  of  Love  group,4  occa- 
sionally in  other  allegorical  poems,3  in  religious  poems,6  in  chan- 
sons de  geste  and  metrical  romances,7  in  political  poems,8  and  even 
in  prose  romances  and  treatises.9     The  description  of  springtime 

i  Poetical  Works  (E.  E.  T.  S.),  pp.  1  ff.  ^Ibid.,  pp.  263  ff. 

3"  The  Justes  of  the  Month  of  May  "  (Hazlitt,  Popular  Poetry,  Vol.  II,  pp.  209  ff.),  of  the 
latter  part  of  the  reign  of  Henry  VII,  contains  several  passages  suggesting  influence  by  F.  L. 

*  See  Professor  Neilson's  dissertation,  passim.  Harvard  Studies,  Vol.  VI. 

5  As  in  Piers  the  Ploicman,  which  begins  on  a  May  morning  with  a  vision  of  a  "  faire 
felde  ful  of  folke"  (B,  1.  17).  See  also  Le  chemin  de  vaillance,  as  analyzed  in  Romania, 
Vol.  XXVII,  pp.  584  ff. ;  de  Guileville's  PHerinage  de  la  vie  humaine,  as  translated  by 
Lydgate  (ed.  Furnivall,  E.  E.  T.  S.,  1899-1904). 

«E.  g.,  a  macaronic  French  and  Latin  Hymn  to  the  Virgin  in  Reliquice  Antique?, 
ed.  Wright  and  Halliwell,  Vol.  I,  p.  200;  Hoccleve's  Minor  Poems,  ed.  Furnivall  (E.E.T.S., 
1892),  Vol.  I,  p.  67;  Lydgate's  Edmund,  in  Horstmann's  Altenglische  Legenden  (Neue  Folge, 
1881)!  p.  443,11.  233  ff. 

7E.  g.,  Aye  d'Avignon,  ed.  Guessard  and  Meyer  (Paris,  1861),  11.  2576-81;   The  Bruce 
ed.  Skeat  (S.  T.  S.,  1894),  beginning  of  Book  V;  the  Sowdone  of  Babylone,  ed.  Hausknech 
(E.  E.  T.  S.,  1881),  11.963  ff.;   The  Squyr  of  Loiv  Degre,  ed.  Mead  (Athenseum  Press,  1904), 
11.  27  ff.,  43  ff.,  57,  etc. 

8  See  Political  Songs  of  England,  ed.  Wright  (Camden  Society,  1839),  pp.  3,  63. 

9  See,  for  example,  a  passage  quoted  from  Guerin  de  Montglave  in  Dunlop's  History  of 
Prose  Fiction,  ed.  Wilson  (Bohn  Library,  1S88),  Vol.  I,  p.  311 ;  Le  livre  desfaits  de  Boucicault 
(perhaps  by  Christine  de  Pisan),  in  Memoirs  pour  servir  a  I'historie  de  la  France,  Vol.  II, 
p.  226 ;  the  Prologue  to  The  Book  of  the  Knight  of  la  Tour-Landry,  ed.  T.  Wright  (E.  E.  T.  S., 
1868).  Of  course  other  examples  could  be  found.  I  have  made  no  exhaustive  search  in 
works  of  this  kind. 

319 


40  George  L.  Marsh 

phenomena  in  F.  L.  most  closely  resembles  passages  in  Chaucer 
and  Lydgate.1  The  sleepless  poet  is  a  familiar  figure  in  mediaeval 
literature.2  Because  of  his  pretended  ignorance  of  the  cause  of 
his  sleeplessness  in  both  F.  L.  and  B.  D.,a  indebtedness  of  the 
former  to  Chaucer  seems  extremely  probable.  Rising  before 
dawn,  or  about  dawn,  and  going  into  a  pleasant  meadow  or  grove 
or  garden  was  clearly  a  common  pleasure  of  poets.  The  most 
notable  passages  in  this  connection  are  in  Machaut,  Froissart, 
Deschamps,  Chaucer,  and  Lydgate.  The  regularity  of  the  grove 
in  F.  L.  appears  to  have  been  suggested  by  either  Lydgate 's 
B.  S.,  or  Chaucer's  B.  D.,  with  a  line  of  indebtedness  probably 
running  back  to  B.  B.  One  of  the  main  objects  of  the  poet's 
early  rising  is  usually  to  hear  the  birds  sing,  especially  the  night- 
ingale. The  most  striking  parallelism  in  this  respect  appears  to 
be,  as  Professor  Skeat  points  out,  between  F.  L.  and  C.  N.*  The 
"path  of  litel  brede,"  overgrown  with  grass  and  weeds,5  was  found 
by  other  poets  on  other  morning  walks.  In  Machaut  and  Chartier 
the  poet  took  this  path  aimlessly;  yet  here,  as  in  so  many  other 
places,  the  closest  resemblance  is  to  Chaucer  (B.  D.),  in  the  obser- 
vation that  the  path  is  "litel  used."  The  "herber"  to  which  the 
path  leads  is  found  almost  everywhere.  In  French  it  is  usually  a 
"vergier;"  in  English  the  form  is  nearly  always  "herber."  In 
Chaucer's  L.  G.  W.,  Lydgate's  C.  B.  and  B.  K.,  in  F.  L.  and  A. 
L.  this  arbor  is  said  to  be  "benched;"  in  L.  G.  W.,  C.  B.,  and 
F.  L.,  "benched  with  turves" — a  similarity  in  minute  detail  that 
indicates  indebtedness  of  all  the  later  poems  to  L.  G.  W.  Usually 
the  arbor  or  garden  is  inclosed  by  a  hedge  or  a  wall,  and  in  a 
number  of  instances  the  poets  represent  themselves  as  in  hiding. 
Attributing  healing  power  to  the  odor  of  the  eglantine  of  which 
the  hedge  is  made  is  but  one  example  of  a  very  common  device. 
The  passage  in  F.  L.  on  this  subject  seems  most  like  passages  in 

'Owing  to  the  number  of  specific  comparisons  already  suggested  between  passages  in 
F.  L.  and  in  works  analyzed  above,  I  shall  not  usually  make  direct  reference  to  previous 
pages  of  this  chapter. 

2  See  Neilson  in  Harvard  Studies,  Vol.  VI,  pp.  183, 185, 186,  190,  206,  216;  Mott,  The  Sys- 
tem of  Courtly  Love,  p.  33;  besides  the  instancos  given  in  this  chapter. 

3  Repeated  also  in  The  King's  Quair. 

4  Chaucerian  and  Other  Pieces,  note  p.  530. 
!■  F.  L.,  11.  43-45. 

320 


"The  Flower  and  the  Leaf"  41 

Couvin's   Fontaine   aV Amours,  Machaut's  Dit  du  Vergier,  and 
Chaucer's  Franklin's  Tale. 

After  the  poet  reached  his  "vergier"  or  "herber,"  it  was  his 
usual  custom  to  sit  down  beneath  a  bush  or  a  tree,  and  there 
either  fall  asleep  and  dream,  or  see  visions  without  the  aid  of 
sleep.  Of  such  visions  a  company  like  our  poet's  "world  of 
ladies"  and  "rout  of  men  at  arms"1  was  a  very  common  feature. 
Often  such  a  company  is  connected  with  the  Court  of  Love  con- 
vention.2 Sometimes  there  may  be  reference  to  stories  of  the 
singing  and  dancing  of  companies  of  fairies.3  But  probably  in 
many  cases  the  vision  was  suggested  by  the  fact  that  on  May 
Day  and  other  popular  holidays  such  companies  actually  did 
gather  to  sing  and  dance  and  engage  in  sports  of  various  kinds. 
The  vogue  of  R.  R.  seems  to  have  been  in  part  responsible  for  the 
commonness  of  such  companies  in  later  poetry;  but  on  account  of 
details  as  to  the  costumes,4  the  author  of  F.  L.  appears  most 
likely  to  owe  direct  debts  in  this  matter  to  Froissart's  Paradys 
oV Amours,  Deschamp's  Lay  de  Franchise,  Christine  de  Pisan's 
Due  des  Vrais  Amans,  Chaucer's  L.  G.  W.,  Gower's  C.  A.,  and 
Lydgate's  R.  S. 

On  the  whole,  then,  only  one  conclusion  is  possible:  that  what- 
ever merits  of  combination  and  expression  F.  L.  may  possess,  its 
setting  and  machinery  are  a  tissue  of  conventionalities  owing 
most  to  Chaucer  and  his  earlier  imitators  (a  group  to  which  our 
author  belonged),  and  much — no  doubt  partly  through  Chaucer 
and  perhaps  Lydgate — to  R.  R.  and  the  French  works  influenced 
by  that  poem. 

CHAPTER  IV.    GENERAL  CONCLUSION  AS  TO  SOURCES 
Before  endeavoring  to  decide,  in  the  light  of  the  foregoing 
evidence,  what  were  the  actual  sources  of  F.  L.,  it  is  desirable  to 
examine  briefly  the  suggestions  previously  made  on  this  subject. 

iF.L.,  11. 137, 196. 

2  See  Neilson's  dissertation,  Harvard  Studies,  Vol.  VI,  passim. 

3 This  theory  as  to  the  origin  of  the  companies  in  F.  L.  was  suggested  to  me  by  Profes- 
sor Schofield,  of  Harvard.  In  view  of  the  frequent  occurrence  of  such  companies,  however, 
in  poems  containing  no  clear  reference  to  fairy  lore,  and  in  view,  further,  of  the  common 
mediaeval  pageantry  in  connection  with  all  sorts  of  celebrations,  it  seems  improper  to  assume 
any  conscious  use  of  fairy  lore  on  the  part  of  the  author  of  F.  L. 

*  Discussed  especially  in  chap,  ii  above. 

321 


42  George  L.  Maesh 

Many  of  these  have  been  mentioned  already  and  may  be  dismissed 
rather  summarily. 

Dryden,  in  the  Preface  to  Fables  (1700),  says  F.  L.  is  of 
Chaucer's  own  invention,  "after  the  manner  of  the  Provencals." 
The  quoted  phrase  can  apply  only  to  the  setting  and  spirit  of  the 
poem.  I  have  found  no  close  parallel  to  it  in  Provencal;  but  in 
certain  ways  it  is  an  outgrowth  of  the  influence  of  the  Provencal 
idea  of  courtly  love  upon  the  French  poets  of  the  north,  who  in 
turn  influenced  Chaucer  in  his  earlier  work. 

In  Urry's  edition  of  Chaucer  (1721),  the  reference  to  the 
strife  of  the  Flower  and  the  Leaf  in  the  Prologue  to  L.  G.  W.  is 
first  pointed  out,  and  assumed  to  be  a  direct  allusion  to  our  poem. 
The  indebtedness,  however, "was  on  the  other  side;  L.  O.  W.  is 
probably  the  most  important  direct  source  of  F.  L. 

Tyrwhitt's  comments  on  F.  L.  are  only  incidental,  in  the 
Appendix  to  the  Preface  to  his  edition  of  C.  T.  (1775).  He 
doubts  the  accuracy  of  Dryden's  statement  that  our  poem  is  "after 
the  manner  of  the  Provencals,"  and  suggests  that  the  worship  of 
the  daisy  may  have  been  inspired  by  Machaut's  Dit  de  la  Fleur  de 
Lis  et  de  la  Marguerite  or  Froissart's  DittiS  de  la  Flour  de  la 
Margherite.1  Apparently,  however,  it  is  unnecessary  to  go 
farther  than  to  Chaucer  for  suggestion  of  the  part  the  daisy  plays 
in  F.  L.;  except  in  search  of  the  "bargaret"  sung  by  the  follow- 
ers of  the  Flower,2  and  of  the  reason  for  giving  these  followers  so 
frivolous  a  character.  Nevertheless  it  is  not  at  all  unlikely  that 
both  Machaut's  and  Froissart's  poems  on  the  daisy,  as  well  as 
Deschamps'  compliments  to  that  flower,  were  known  to  our 
author,  as  they  probably  were  to  Chaucer.3 

In  Warton's  History  of  English  Poetry  (completed  1781) 
there  is  considerable  comment  on  F.  L.,  a  large  part  of  it  in 
elaboration  or  criticism  of  Tyrwhitt.  Thus  in  a  footnote4  Warton 
combats  Tyrwhitt's  assertion  that  Chaucer  did  not  directly  imi- 
tate the  Provencal  poets.  F.  L.,  he  says,  "is  framed  in  the  old 
allegorizing  spirit  of  the  Provencal  writers,  refined  and  disfigured 

1  See  chap,  ii  above,  pp.  157,  158.  ~F.  L.,  11.  348-50. 

3  See  Professor  Lowes'  article  previously  referred  to,  p.  124,  n.  1,  above. 
*  History  of  English  Poetry,  ed.  Hazlitt  (1871),  Vol.  II,  p.  298. 

322 


"The  Flower  and  the  Leaf"  43 

by  the  fopperies  of  the  French  poets  in  the  fourteenth  century." 
Farther  on  he  analyzes  our  poem  with  some  care,1  and  refers  to 
the  panegyric  on  the  daisy  in  L.  G.  W.;  to  Machaut's  and  Frois- 
sart's  poems  on  the  daisy;  to  Margaret  of  Navarre's  collection 
of  poems  called  Marguerites  de  la  Marguerite  des  Princesses; 
and  to  the  fact  that  "it  was  common  in  France  to  give  the  title 
of  Marguerites  to  studied  panegyrics  and  literary  compositions  of 
every  kind  both  in  prose  and  verse."  Then  he  proceeds  to  the 
suggestion  that  the  fancies  of  our  poet  "seem  more  immediately 
to  have  taken  their  rise  from  the  Floral  Games  instituted  in 
France  in  the  year  1324,  which  filled  the  French  poetry  with 
images  of  this  sort."  Some  description  of  these  games  follows. 
Later,  in  his  discussion  of  Grower,2  Warton  suggests  that  the  tale 
of  Rosiphele,3  of  which  he  quotes  a  large  part,  is  imitative  of  F. 
L.  For  "farther  proof  that  the  Floure  and  Leafe  preceded  the 
Confessio  Amantis"  he  cites  the  lines  from  Book  VIII  of  the 
latter,  referring  to  garlands  — 

Some  of  the  lef,  some  of  the  flour.4 
One  remaining  reference  to  F.  L.  is  in  relation  to  its  influence 
upon  Dunbar's  Golden  Targe? 

Clearly  the  new  matter  brought  forth  by  Warton  is  not  of 
great  importance.  His  additions  in  relation  to  the  cult  of  the 
daisy  show  only  something  of  its  vogue  long  after  the  date  of  our 
poem,  for  the  verses  of  Margaret  of  Navarre  were  not  collected 
till  1547.  His  paragraph  about  the  Jeux  Floraux  is  full  of  errors; 
for  he  seems  to  have  thought  the  whole  of  France  participated  in 
these  festivities,  and  thus  greatly  exaggerates  their  influence  in 
the  north.  I  have  not  found  any  reason  for  believing  that  F.  L. 
was  directly  influenced  by  the  Jeux  Floraux.6  Finally,  Warton's 
comment  on  our  author's  relations  with  Gower  must  of  course  be 
reversed,  for  beyond  reasonable  doubt  F.  L.  is  later  than  C.  A. 
Resemblances  between  parts  of  the  two  poems  have,  as  I  have 
shown,7  been  exaggerated. 

1  History  of  English  Poetry,  ed.  Hazlitt,  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  8  ff.  *  Ibid.,  pp.  29  ff. 

3  C.  A.,  Book  IV,  11. 1245  ff.    See  chap,  ii  above,  pp.  166,  167. 
1  See  chap,  i,  above,  p.  134. 

5  History  of  English  Poetry,  ed.  Hazlitt,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  209. 

6 See  chap,  i  above,  p.  139.  7  Pp.  134, 135, 166, 167  above. 

323 


44  G-eorge  L.  Marsh 

Godwin,  in  his  Life  of  Chaucer  (1801),  analyzes  F.  L.  at  con- 
siderable length  and  praises  it  very  highly,  especially  as  it  appears 
in  Dryden's  version,  but  adds  very  little  as  to  sources.  He  com- 
bats the  idea  that  the  worship  of  the  daisy  came  from  Machaut  or 
Froissart,  on  the  ground  that  Chaucer  himself  had  already  origi- 
nated it  in  C.  L.,  which  he  wrote  in  1346!  Since  the  best  schol- 
ars are  now  convinced  that  this  poem  can  hardly  be  earlier  than 
1500,  comment  is  unnecessary.  Godwin  thinks  F.  L.  "has  the 
air  of  a  translation,"  and  that  the  original  author  was  a  woman — 
suggestions  which  are  not  intrinsically  unreasonable,  though 
entirely  unproved. 

Todd,  in  his  Illustrations  of  Goiver  and  Chaucer  (1810),  col- 
lects and  elaborates  the  suggestions  of  his  predecessors,  but  adds 
nothing  of  consequence. 

Sandras,  the  next  important  commentator,1  pursues  a  very  dif- 
ferent method.  Practically  all  his  suggestions  are  new,  and  most  of 
them — although  somewhat  too  dogmatically  stated — are  valuable. 
The  introduction  of  F.  L.,  he  says,  is  indebted  to  Machaut's  Dit 
du  Vergier,  from  which  he  quotes  most  of  the  portion  to  be  fo"und 
on  pp.  291-93  above.  He  also  observes  that  in  Machaut's  Dit  du 
Lyon  there  are  trees  of  uniform  height,  planted  at  equal  intervals, 
as  in  our  poem.  In  nearly  all  the  ditiSs  of  Machaut  and  Froissart 
he  finds  scenes  analogous  to  that  of  the  appearance  of  the  com- 
pany of  ladies  of  the  Leaf  led  by  Diana.  To  two  of  these  scenes 
he  makes  reference:  in  Machaut's  Dit  du  Vergier  and  in  Froissart  ' 
Temple  d' Honour.2  His  most  important  contribution,  however,  is 
mention  of  Deschamps'  three  ballades  on  the  Orders  of  the  Flower 
and  the  Leaf.3  The  text  of  these,  with  an  invitation  to  write  on 
the  same  subject,  he  believes  Chaucer  may  have  received  from 
Philippa  of  Lancaster,  to  whom  one  of  the  ballades  is  addressed.4 
Finally  Sandras  suggests  that  the  end  of  our  poem  recalls  the 
Lai  du  Trot. 

His  chief  error — except,  of  course,  in  the  matter  of  Chaucerian 
authorship — consists  in  assuming  too  much  from  resemblances  of 

i  £tude  sur  Chaucer  (Paris,  1859). 

-  An  error  for  Paradys  d' Amour,  as  noted  above.  3 Discussed  in  chap,  i  above. 

*  Professor  Kittredge  makes  a  similar  suggestion  in  Modem  Philology,  Vol,  I,  pp.  5,  6, 
without  noting  Sandras'  previous  comment. 

324 


"The  Flower  and  the  Leaf"  45 

F.  L.  to  single  works.  Machaut's  Dit  du  Vergier  unquestionably 
does  resemble  the  English  poem  in  its  setting  and  part  of  its 
action;  but  so  do  Deschamps'  Lay  de  Franchise  and  Froissart's 
Paradys  cV Amour — to  select  only  two  of  the  most  notable  French 
examples.  Hence  it  is  impossible  to  say  dogmatically  that  the 
highly  conventional  introduction  of  F.  L.  is  from  one  particular 
source.  The  conclusions  reached  in  chap,  iii  above  show  the 
inadequacy  of  all  Sandras'  comments  except  in  relation  to  the 
ballades  of  Deschamps.  Some  of  the  works  he  mentions  may 
have  influenced  our  author,  but  they  can  not  be  singled  out  to  the 
exclusion  of  others.  The  ballades  of  Deschamps,  however,  must 
have  had  influence  in  the  writing  of  F.  L.  I  have  already  said 
that  it  seems  unnecessary  to  assume  a  knowledge  of  the  Lai  du 
Trot.1 

Ten  Brink,  in  his  Chaucer  Studien  (1870),  presented  the  ear- 
liest comprehensive  and  adequate  proof  that  F.  L.  was  not  by 
Chaucer,2  but  added  nothing  in  relation  to  sources. 

Professor  C.  F.  McClumpha,  in  1889,3  suggested  that  Des- 
champs' Lay  de  Franchise  was  a  poetic  model  for  F.  L.  Practi- 
cally all  the  resemblances  pointed  out  with  emphasis  in  his  article 
are  shown  in  the  analysis  of  Deschamps'  poem  in  chap,  iii  above, 
from  which  it  should  be  clear  that  the  Lay  de  Franchise  is  hardly 
more  like  F.  L.  than  a  number  of  other  works.4  To  be  sure, 
Deschamps'  young  men  gathering  flowers  are  clad  in  green ;  but 
I  have  pointed  out  several  examples  of  like  companies  similarly 
clad.  And  even  the  description  of  the  jousting,  which  is  the 
most  significant  feature  of  Deschamps'  poem  in  relation  to  F.  L., 
seems  hardly  so  important  as  a  similar  description  in  Christine  de 
Pisan's  Due  des  Vrais  Amans,  because  of  the  specific  contrast  of 
white  and  green  costumes  in  the  latter.  These  errors  are  akin  to 
those  of  Sandras — of  a  negative  rather  than  a  positive  sort ;  but 
in  his  zeal  to  make  out  a  good  case  Professor  McClumpha  falls 
into  a  positive  blunder  of  interpretation,  when  he  says  that 
Deschamps  "attaches  a  brief  comparison  of  the  flower  and  the 

1  End  of  chap,  ii  above.  2PP.  156  ff. 

8  Modern  Language  Notes,  Vol,  IV,  cols.  402  ff. 
*  Most  notably  those  first  mentioned  by  Sandras. 

325 


46  George  L.  Marsh 

leaf."  He  does  do  this  in  his  ballades,  but  not  in  the  Lay  de 
Franchise.  On  the  whole,  it  is  quite  impossible  to  agree  that  "the 
similarity  of  these  two  poems  is  so  apparent  that  one  must  have 
suggested  the  other,  if,  indeed,  a  nearer  relationship  may  not  be 
assumed."  The  Lay  de  Franchise  unquestionably  belongs  to  a 
group  of  poems,  any  one  or  all  of  which,  either  directly  or  through 
Chaucer  and  Lydgate,  may  have  influenced  our  author;  but  we 
cannot  say  dogmatically  that  it  or  any  other  one  of  them,  particu- 
larly, was  the  model  for  F.  L.1 

Professor  Skeat,  in  his  various  comments  on  our  poem,  has 
made  no  important  addition  to  our  knowledge  of  its  sources — has, 
in  fact,  ignored  the  most  important  suggestions  previously  made 
(by  Sandras).  He  has,  however,  pointed  out  numerous  similari- 
ties between  passages  of  F.  L.  and  of  other  English  poems,  espe- 
cially those  of  Chaucer.  Such  verbal  resemblances  as  he  men- 
tions usually  indicate  nothing  but  close  imitation  of  Chaucer; 
the  important  resemblances  in  idea  I  have  already  discussed. 

It  must  be  admitted  that  a  majority  of  the  works  most  likely 
to  have  influenced  our  author  had  been  pointed  out  before  this 
investigation  was  begun.  Chaucer's  and  Deschamps'  references 
to  the  Orders  of  the  Flower  and  the  Leaf  were  known ;  but  the 
latter  had  not  been  examined  for  specific  resemblances  to  F.  L. 
Discussion  of  Charles  d'Orleans'  ballades  in  this  connection  is 
new ;  and  most  of  the  material  in  the  latter  part  of  chap,  i  and  the 
whole  of  chap,  ii  is  here  put  together  for  the  first  time.  No  ade- 
quate idea  had  been  given  of  the  conventionality  of  the  setting 
and  machinery  of  our  poem,  and  therefore  too  much  was  assumed 
from  resemblances  between  F.  L.  and  two  poems  of  Machaut  and 
Deschamps.  I  have  pointed  out  almost  infinite  repetition  of 
nearly  all  the  details  of  the  setting,  and  several  poems  which,  in 
their  combination  of  many  such  details,  seem  as  likely  to  have 
influenced  our  author  as  Machaut's  Bit  du  Vergier  or  Deschamps' 
Lay  de  Franchise.  Among  these  are  R.  E.,  the  fundamental 
importance  of  which  in  this  connection  had  not  been  recognized; 
Froissart's  Paradys  ef  Amour;  and  poems  by  Christine  de  Pisan 

lAs  an  illustration  of  the  sort  of  misrepresentation  to  which  such  study  of  sources 
leads,  it  is  interesting  to  note  that  Mr.  Gosse,  in  his  Short  History  of  English  Literature 
(1898),  says  F.  L.  "begins  as  a  translation  of  Machault's  Dit  du  Vergier." 

326 


"The  Flower  and  the  Leaf"  47 

and  Lydgate  (primary  indebtedness  to  Chaucer  being,  of  course, 
taken  for  granted).  The  especially  interesting  material  from 
Lydgate's  B.  S.  is  new,  as  that  work  was  not  generally  accessible 
until  after  this  study  was  begun. 

The  conclusion  as  to  sources  must  be  that  F.  L.  is  decidedly 
an  eclectic  composition.  Beyond  doubt  the  author's  first  model 
was  Chaucer;  especially  in  the  Prologue  to  L.  G.  W.,  but  also  at 
least  in  C.  T.,  B.  D.,  and  P.  F.  Next  in  importance  is  Lydgate, 
whose  B.  S.,  especially,  presents  more  different  points  of  resem- 
blance to  F.  L.,  in  both  diction  and  idea,  than  any  other  one  pro- 
duction I  have  examined.  Gower's  C.  A.  and  later  poems  of  the 
Chaucerian  school,  notably  C.  N.,  our  author  probably  knew. 
As  to  direct  French  influence  there  is  more  uncertainty,  since 
most  of  the  features  that  were  French  in  origin  had  been  fairly 
well  domesticated  in  England  before  F.  L.  was  written.  Thus 
the  setting  and  the  main  action  of  the  poem  are  paralleled  in  both 
Chaucer  and  Lydgate,  and  the  most  influential  French  allegories 
in  which  similar  setting  and  action  are  found  had  been  translated 
into  English.  It  seems  practically  certain,  however,  that  our 
author  knew  Deschamps'  ballades  on  the  Orders  of  the  Flower 
and  the  Leaf,  and  extremely  probable  that  he  knew  other  poems 
by  Deschamps,  as  well  as  by  Machaut,  Froissart,  and  Christine  de 
Pisan.  And  behind  all  other  French  influence,  directly  or  indi- 
rectly, is  B.  B.,  which  the  author  of  F.  L.  must  have  known  in 
the  version  attributed  to  Chaucer,  and  perhaps  in  the  original. 

George  L.  Marsh 

University  of  Chicago 


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